The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1894-01-03
Rational Cattle Feeding.
PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.

tage, has to charge himself with their
feeding, and to study the nutritive val
ues of different feeding stuffs, in order
to be able to establish a good, produc-
tive and economical method of feeding.
He must seek and find out the respec-
tive weights of different feeding ma
terias having the same feeding value,-
or nutrtive equivalents" - figures
representing the respective weights OF
different feeding stuffs, equivalent, say,
to 100 pounds of good hay, to take as a
term of comparison.
We all understand the Importance of
a good table of these nutritive equiva-
Tents, so as TO substitute one kind of
forage for another, and thus make up
the daily rations of our stock. Two
methods present themselves; the prac-
tical, which is adhered to by those de-
pending simply upon ordinary expert
ence; and the chemical, depending
more upon analysis of the forage.
AT first sight it would appear that the
practical method ought to conduct
safely and surely to the desired result,
whether we seek for the respective
weights of different feeds necessary for
the support of the same animal, or OF
similar animals in the specified condi-
tons; or perhaps, experimenting with
the same weights of other feeds, we
Judge of their feeding value by the
quantity of the products obtained. But
in reality nothing is more tedious or
more troublesome than these practical
experiments upon animals, because
such multitude of circumstances con-
nected with the animal itself, with the
feeds, and with external influences,
come in to modify the conditions of our
experiments, vary the products OBJ
tanned, render the results incompar-
able, and falsify the conclusions which
we may draw from them. The kind,
the age, the aptitudes, the tempera-
ment, the state of health and condition,
the care aud grooming of the animal,
the differences in the quality of the
the feed of It's dampness, its fineness,
or its maturity, its curing, odor, or
preservation, of its taste, or adaptation,
the notifications of exterior tempera-
ture, dampness, tranquility, etc., are so
many circumstances which may more
or less influence the results of the feed
ing, and are very difficult to equalize in
an experiment of any considerable dura-
ton.
Still further, these effects in feeding
are not simple or single; on the con-
trary, they are many at once, and, there
fore, very hard to appreciate in gen.
eral way as whole. In fact, the ami
NAL in the experiment, doing work or
producing milk, meat or wool, may at
the same time gain or lose in flesh, so
that in measuring the marketable pro-
duct-labor, milk, wool-it is always
necessary to keep count of variations
which may affect the live weight of the
body, and indicate gain or loss Of fat
in adult animals.
The determination of the mean live
weight of an animal demands at least
ten days of precise and regular weigh
ing at the same hour and under the
same circumstances, 30 as to lessen by
compensation the causes of error re-
sulting from passing and chance varia-
tons of the gross weight. 1t is well
understood, in fact, that the live weight
of single fat beast may vary from 80
to 40 Kilograms (say IS to 100 pounds)
in the space of twelve hours by the con-
sumption of food and the evacuation of
excrements. The variations from one
day to another, with very regular feed
ing and watering, and weighing at the
same hour and in the most favorable
conditions, Immediately after the morn
ing feed, may still amount to ten or
fifteen Kilograms GA to 36 pounds. But
uniformity of live weight, even, still
does not give a sufficient warrant to
affirm that the condition of the animal
has not varied; for we have only the
gross weight of the beast, that is, with
all the foreign and excrementtious
matters which are in its intestines and
are no integral portion of the animal,
properly speaking; 80 that the net
weight of the animal may have really
diminished by the resorption of fat as
much even as the gross weight has in
creased under the influence of the new
feeding. 1t suffices for this that the
new feed was more woody than the
old, more indigestible, took more room
in the intestines, or, being more salty,
had caused the taking of more water.
We thus see what multitude of diff
ficulties present themselves when we
come to experiment directly as to the
nutritive effect of foods as consumed