Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1891-06-03
Balanced Rations,

|
tical Farmer says: ga farmer near me
was recently commenting on the pres
ent high price of grain, and in purchas.
| ing feed for his fowls-the laying stock
chose corn meal in preference to bran
and middlings, because the cost was
about the same, and the corn, to his
mind, had good deal more sub
| stance than either one of the others
mentioned.
can allusion to this case is justified
| because there is such widespread lack
of information as to what should be fed,
and how one should feed the foods that
have been judiciously selected.
LAS man does not take fire-wood to
make an OK yoke, why should he spend
his money for corn meal, expecting his
hens to make eggs from it, when corn
contains but small amount of the ele-
ments contained in an egg, while oats
and wheat contain a large amount? He
is as clearly throwing away money as
though he threw it from bridge into
the river. 1t is idle for him to suppose
that the hen can change anything she
may eat into eggs. She hasn't the
power to do it, and if the best results
are to be obtained she must be fed lust
such elements as she needs for her own
subsistence, and for the manufacture of
the eggs that are desired.
cit is ofno use to furnish some of the
elements required. They must all be in
the feed, and in as large quantities as
can be digested A shoemaker could
not make boots though all the leather in
the world were furnished him. He
must have also thread and pegs. If one
is feeding COW for milk solely, she
must be supplied with an abundance of
the elements that 90 to make good milk,
which are found in bran, oat meal,
clover hay and such foods. If the COW
is fed for butter solely, foods rich in fat
are to be used, because butter is largely
fat.
cit is not enough, however, for most
economical feeding, that one knows
simply that corn contains quite an
amount Of fat-forming material, or that
oats and wheat contain good deal of
heterogeneous material, though such SUI
perfcial knowledge of all the grains
anyone. It is necessary that he be able
to combine the various foods SO that
just the right elements and the right
proportion OF them Will be in the ration
that he leeds. If one does not feed
these elements in the right proportion,
though he furnish all, and as much of
each as may be needed, there will be
some that will be in excess of the needs
of the animals, and this will be more or
less a pure waste Of feed, because at
the present price of grain stufs it will
not pay to buy them simply to enrich
the manure heap, as highly desirable as
1t is to make that rich.
GA balanced ration does not mean
simply such ration as will supply just
such elements as are needed to make a
days product Of butter, or milk, beef,
pork or eggs. It means a ration that
will give, most economically, the product
desired, and give in addition the food
that the animal needs to sustain life,
supplying both the functions of life and
the functions of production, with very
little over and above to be untitled and
in measure, lost. But some one will
say, TO feed in this way would require
intelligent study and thought Ger
tainly, and farmingin any Gifts branches
necessitates intelligent study and
thought if it is to be at all profitable.
The sooner person comes to that con-
clusion the sooner he will get a start on
the road to success. But in no branch
Of farming is there more need of intelli-
gence than in the economical feeding Of
farm animals"