The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-02-15
INTELLIGENT FEEDING.


I
and stun.
The point on which farming has made
+ the greatest and yet least noticed adj
\ vance is the better understanding that
now prevails among progressive farm
ers about the feeding of domestic ami
mails. 1T is true that q large part of the
food that used to be given 10 stock was
either wasted or was positively iuJuri-
Gus. Tt is yet, for that matter. among
the large class who give little thought
to their business and despise the teach
/ ing Of newspapers and experimental sta
tions. To alternately starve and stuff
animals used to be considered inevi-
table lit was the condition of nature,
and it was argued that wild animals ia
a state of nature usually maintained
good health. Those who argued for bet
ter feeding than nature 8 method were
told that what was gained in heshmaly-
ing was likely to be offset by weaker
constitution and often by an impair
ment Of the digestive functions.
That this was sometimes the fact is
true. The science Of feeding has been
of comparatively recent growth, and TO
feed ia the best manner animals whose
digestion has already been injured re-
quires more skill than most feeders
possess. We are at last learning that
be guarded against in1udicious food
from birth, and even earlier than this.
lit is possible certainly TO stunt pigs be-
fore their birth, and 1T is often done
when breeding sows are fed too much
corn. They are apt in such case tie far
row pigs whose digestion seems to be
impaired even from birth. Generally,
however. young animals have good APP
petites and are able to digest what ma
ture has provided for them. The first
milk they get from their dams IS ar
ways laxative, and the weakness of very
young animals insures them against get
ting more at first than is good for them.
Tia fact, for number Of days after
birth, sucking their dam provides the
kind and amount Of food that is best
for growth and future welI being of
the young animal # IS when the nat-
ural supply becomes insufficient that the
injury to digestion begins. Either the
young animal is left with too little or
1T is apt to be greatly overfed, or fed
with what is too hard to digest. OF the
two evils, undertaking is the smaller.
There were farmers who studied out
this problem of feeding before the days
of scientific analysis. Their reasoning
was that good feeding required as near
1y as possible a continuation Of the feed
their dams, the amount fed being grad
ualIy increased as the animal became
stronger. The digestive organs. like
all others in the body. are strengthened
by use and weakened on injured 10y
abuse. What is called dyspepsia almost
always results from bad feeding, alter
nately starving and pampering, OF the
giving of food that is difficult Of diges-
ton. Sometimes the trouble with di-
gestion is that the food is not properly
balanced. The natural appetite calls
for the kind OF food that the system re-
quires. If this is not furnished, any sub
stitute for it VIII be eaten less heartily,
viii not receive its due proportion Of
saliva and VIII not digest Well
The analysis of food showing its diff
ferent constituents has only made more
plain the reasons for the success of
some old fashioned feeders and the fail
ure of others. BY showing what rations
for growth, for fattening and for milk
are required it has made it posi- bic for
all to DE reasonably successful. There is
far less feeding Of corn to young or To
breeding animals than used to be com
mon. When corn is fed now, it is Ia
ombination with less concentrated
forms 81 food and those having more Of
the flesh, muscle and bone forming ma
teriaI than has corn There is far more
use of fine wheat middlngs AS a cor
receive of the excessive carbonaceous
coInmeal, and also as an aid to better
digestion. than many farmers imagine.
III they are fattening animals, they of
ten suppose that the more concentrated
fatteuing food they can get eaten the
better Will be the result. But skiilful
feeders know better lit is not what IS
eaten but what is digested and assimi-
lated that benefits the fattening animal.
With balanced ration and some bulky
food to distend the stomach, the fatten-
ing animal viii eat more and maintain
its appetite. which it viii not do If fed
only On the most fattening food
American Cultivator