The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1886-03-12
WINTER FEEDING OF ANIMALS.

fTOI. henry NtcWdrt III the NEW IOTk
Times. writing from a scientific point,
makes some observations which will be
of great value To feeders. There is a
great waste. he says. in feeding animals
upon concentrated. oily food. as the
various oil meals. riccmeal. and even
cOrnmeal. This waste passes unnoticcd
and is even wrongly considered to be
regained in the manure. when it may
not be suspected by the more intelligent
persons who mostly Use these cOncen.
trated foods for the av0wed purpose OF
adding to the value of the manure what
may escape from the digestive apparatus
of the animals. But when the oily part
of the food is lost il is not rcgained in
the manure. because oils and fats have
no manural value whatever. Ii is there
fore of Importance to consider how farm
ers, stockmen. and dairymen who feed
highly of foods rich in oil in winter may
save the most costly part OF them by Sc
curing their perfect digestion in the ami
mails intestines.
Ii is well known that the oils and fats
i'm food substances are valued two and
one half-times as high as starchy and
other carbohydrates. twenty-five pounds
of starch being estimated as worth no
more than 10 pounds of oil or fat or, to put
it another form, if a pound of starch is
worth for food one cent one pound of fat
or oil is worth two and one-half cents,
and the market value of these oily foods
being estimated on these bases, the loss
is all the greater if these fats are lost in
the manure. where they are absolutely
valueless.
1t is n fact known by Psychologists
and physicians that no fat is digcsted in
the animal system, except it be in state
| in which it is SOLUBLE in water. and that
before the liui.!- -: -: digestive organs.
the gastric and i.,:,,csSstic fluids. and
the bile can act upon oily and fatty sub
| stances these must moi only be in con-
dition of perfect emulsion. but wholly
soluble. The highest microscopic power
| fails to show the faintest indication of
any pores or ducts in the absorbents of
| the intestines by which the blood is re-
| inforced and fed with new matter. Free
and uncombined fat will not he taken
up bv the blood. nor will il mix with it,
| or pass through the walls Of the absorb.
ing vessels.
| Butter fat rs il is contained i'm the
| milk and has been formed in the mann
| mary glands is The only kind which can
be readily diges,ed by IN animal, no:
only because of the perfect emulsion
formed by lis mixture in milk but be-
cause of its peculiar composition, which
renders il easily soluble in the intestines
when acted upon by the digestive fluids.
This explains why calf. which will fat
ten up quickly upon milk drawn natur-
ally from its dam ridder. will not thrive
upon substituted food. nor upon the new
milk when fed TO it from pail. the lat
ter fact being due Ia the better mixture
of saliva. which is Il true preparatory
digestive fluid. with the milk during the
sucking of the calf and the imperfect
salvation of the food when i, is hastily
swallowed from Il pail.
Perfect maSiication and salvation are
the first requisites to the perfect digestion
Of food. The saliva not only moistens
and dilutcs the food. but il excrts q
chemical action upon il. II has the
| power of changing starch to sugar by
combining one equivalent of water
chemically with il. and thus rendering
il submissive to the digestive process
but it also aids TO the cmul>ifying of the
oil and fat and of making these soluble
II is clear that the food. then. is all the
more economically disposed of when il
is thoroughly masticatcd. To secure this
end it should be ground is finely rs pos
siblc and given in mixtures with the
coarse fodder. The addition of salt to
the food also makes il more Savory and
excites a copious flow of saliva during the
mastication. The cost and labor of the
food by which this is secured are fal
less than an equivalent for the gain in
the feeding. The enormous waste made
in excessive feeding is clearly shown
when the ratiOns used in the testing o.
noted cows are considered. The eXces
sive bulk of food could not have beer
digested, but passed through the intes
tines as waste, producing disturbance o.
health and final disease and death.