Feeds and feeding

Front matter

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Copyright^ .

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT.

Preface

Feeds and Feeding, first published in March, 1898, was received with immediate and widespread favor by practical stockmen, as well as by the professors and students of animal husbandry in our agricultural colleges and secondary schools. The plan of the book had been laid along original lines, and neither time, labor, nor expense was spared in its preparation. In 1910, after nine editions had come from the press, the book was entirely rewritten and improved in many ways. During the lapse of time since that date, the accumulation of new and important matter, both scientific and practical, has made another revision desirable. Accordingly, more than two years ago, the preparation of this, the second revision, was begun, Professor F. B. Morrison, who had so ably assisted with every page of the first revision, becoming joint author herein with the original author.

With a corps of trained assistants he has devoted much time during the past two years to the preparation of this second revision. Previous to and during its writing he has visited numerous stock farms and ranches as well as the agricultural colleges and experiment stations of many states, so that now the combined observations and studies of the joint authors, along the lines of both theoretical and practical animal husbandry, cover quite intimately every state of the Union, as well as parts of Canada and the Old World!

It has been the aim of the authors to give in Feeds and Feeding an unbiased and condensed presentation of the most important findings of the investigators of both the Old and New Worlds in the science of animal nutrition, together with the most important results of the vast number of feeding trials which have been conducted at the experiment stations in the United States and other countries, the whole being rounded out by the practical experiences of many of the leading stockmen of America. In a large number of instances, as the text shows, the data and results of important investigations, completed so recently at the experiment stations as not yet to be in print, have been forwarded to the authors by those who were conducting them, in order that the findings might be summarized in this revision.

In Part I the fundamental principles of animal nutrition are first briefly presented, including the most recent discoveries of the biological chemists. The various feeding standards for the different classes of farm animals are then fully discussed, and there is presented a new series of standards — "The Modified Wolff -Lehmann Standards," formulated by the authors, — which are based upon the recent findings of the scientists in this and other countries. To point out some of the economic principles which should be considered in the feeding of live stock, an entirely new chapter — "Economy in Feeding Live Stock" — has been added.

iv PREFACE

In Part II the many new feeding stuffs are given full consideration along with the old. Especial emphasis is placed upon the importance of combining the legume roughages with corn and the other cereals for the economical feeding of farm animals, and upon the great value of silage for the various classes of live stock. Finally the vital relation of animal husbandry to the economical maintenance of soil fertility, thru the return to the soil of the manurial residue of feeding stuffs, is emphasized.

In Part III there are presented the most important findings obtained by the experiment stations, to date, on the value of the many different feeding stuffs for each class of live stock, and on the effect of various methods of preparing feed, systems of feeding and caring for stock, etc. Rather than simply giving the results of single typical trials on the various subjects, in most cases the data for all the similar trials on a given subject have been carefully compiled and averaged together. The feeder is thus given more trustworthy information in regard to the relative value of the different feeding stuffs. The observant reader will discern that the results of the investigations, as set forth in this work, do not tend to render the great art of stock feeding complex and abstruse, but rather to simplify it greatly. In evidence of this, note the smaller allowances of expensive concentrates recommended in the rations for dairy cows and for fattening cattle when corn silage and the legume forages are rightly used to supply the roughage ; also that grinding and cooking feed is, for the most part, discouraged, in opposition to the theories and teachings of earlier times. Those who may be rather surprised that the ways marked out in this book are, after all, so simple and plain should remember that knowledge and wisdom are often kind in leading us along easy paths.

Feeds and Feeding contains about one-third more matter than the former revision, due not only to the addition of 85 pages, but also to a larger type page, a change of type, and other devices for saving space. This expansion has been made chiefly in Parts II and III, so that teachers, students, and farmers in any section of the country may find in this volume information regarding all the feeds of any importance in that district.

The sincere thanks of the authors are hereby extended to the hundreds of friends who by suggestions and reports of experiments and experiences have furnished invaluable assistance in innumerable ways — only by such help so generously given has the making of this book been possible. Acknowledgment is due Professor E. V. McCollum of the University of "Wisconsin for valuable suggestions in the revision of the first six chapters of the book ; to Messrs. F. R. Jones, G. Bohstedt, A. J. Dexter, and J. G. Poynton, and Miss Vivian Elver for help in compiling data ; and especially to Mrs. Elsie Bullard-Morrison for invaluable assistance thruout the entire work of revision.

W. A. Henry.

Madison, Wisconsin, October, 1915

Contents

PAGE

Introduction. Live Stock and Profitable Farming vn

Part I. — Plant Growth and Animal Nutrition Chapter

I. The Plant; How it Grows and Elaborates Food for Animals 1

II. Composition of the Animal Body — Digestion — Metabolism 14

III. Measuring the Usefulness of Feeds 36

IV. Maintenance of Farm Animals 54

V. Growth and Fattening 75

VI. Production of Work, Milk, and Wool 100

VII. Feeding Standards — Calculating Rations 109

VIII. Economy in Feeding Live Stock 139

Part II. — Feeding Stuffs

IX. Leading Cereals and their By-products 149

X. Minor Cereals, Oil-bearing and Leguminous Seeds, and their By-products 166

XI. Miscellaneous Concentrates — Feeding Stuffs Control — Condimental

Foods 181

XII. Indian Corn and the Sorghums for Forage 193

XIII. The Smaller Grasses — Straw — Hay-making 204

XIV. Leguminous Plants for Forage 223

XV. Roots, Tubers, and Miscellaneous Forages 240

XVI. Silage — Soilage — The Preparation of Feed 254

XVII. Manurial Value of Feeding Stuffs 272

Part III. — Feeding Farm Animals

XVIII. Factors Influencing the Work of the Horse 281

XIX. Feeds for the Horse 299

XX. Feeding and Caring for the Horse 320

XXI. General Problems in Dairy Husbandry 338

XXII. Feeds for the Dairy Cow 358

XXIII. Records of Production of Dairy Cows — Feed Required by Cow and

Cost of Producing Milk and Fat 387

XXIV. Feed and Care of the Dairy Cow 398

XXV. Raising Dairy Cattle 412

XXVI. General Problems in Beef Production 430

XXVII. Feeds for Fattening Cattle 449

XXVIII. Raising Beef Cattle 484

XXIX. Counsel in the Feed Lot 493

XXX. General Problems in Sheep Husbandry 507

XXXI. Feeds for Sheep 521

v vi CONTENTS

Chapter Page

XXXII. General Care of Sheep and Lambs — Fattening — Hot-house Lambs —

Goats 548

XXXIII. General Problems in Swine Husbandry 568

XXXIV. Feeds for Swine 587

XXXV. Feed and Care of Swine 624

Table I. Composition of American Feeding Stuffs 633

Table II. Digestibility of Feeding Stuffs 647

Table III. Digestible Nutrients and Fertilizing Constituents of Feeding Stuffs 653

Table IV. The Wolff -Lehmann Feeding Standards 667

Table V. The Modified Wolff -Lehmann Feeding Standards 669

Table VI. The Mineral Constituents of Feeding Stuffs 672

Table VII. The Weight of Various Concentrates per Quart 673

Index 674

INFORMATION TO THE READER

When seeking information on any subject presented in this book, the reader should first consult the copious index, the figures of which refer to the page on which the topic is presented. Additional information bearing on the subject given at other places may be found by following up the numerous references set in black-face figures in parentheses, occurring in the body of the text. These figures refer to the numbered black-face sideheads, and not to the pages.

Introduction

LIVE STOCK AND PROFITABLE FARMING

The animals of the farm should be regarded as living factories that are continuously converting their feed into products useful to man. A fact of great economic importance is that a large part of the food they consume is of such character that humans can not directly utilize it themselves. Among the products yielded by the farm animals are not only articles of human diet, such as meat, milk, and eggs, but also such materials as wool, mohair, and hides, which are needed for clothing and other purposes. Another product of greater aggregate money value than any one of these is the work performed by horses and other draft animals. Altogether, the farm animals of the United States yield each year products worth over $5,000,000,000, a sum nearly as great as the value of all the crops annually harvested on our farms.

As the population of our country becomes more dense, most naturally and properly a smaller portion of the crops raised will be fed to animals and a larger part consumed directly by humans. This change must come with the increased demand for human food, since even high-producing animals are able to convert only a part of the feed they eat into food for our consumption; Accordingly, with our increasing population, we should expect the census statistics to show that the number of animals on our farms was failing in some small degree to keep pace with the increase in people. The actual decrease in farm animals compared with population is, however, surprising. While the population of the United States increased 21 per ct. during the decade 1900 to 1910, the number of cattle and sheep decreased, and the number of swine increased but slightly. This indicates that if animal products are to hold their present important place in the diet of our people, American farmers must more thoroly appreciate the basic advantages of stock farming and better understand the principles and methods which are essential to its success.

1. Live-stock farming and soil fertility. — Lured by the high prices which have ruled for grain and other crops in recent years, many farmers all over the country have sold their crops for cash, rather than following the wiser plan of marketing a portion thru the feeding of live stock, and thereby maintaining a balanced agriculture. Seldom have they realized that with every ton of grain thus sold they are removing from their farms $7 to $8 worth of fertility. The loss thru such mining of the soil is gradual, but in a comparatively few years there will result none the less surely worn-out fields, lacking in plant food and humus, which must ever afterwards be fed with fertilizers to secure fair crops. On the other hand, if viii FEEDS AND FEEDING

a part of the crops are fed to live stock and proper care taken of the resulting manure, most of the fertility may be retained on the farm, and the need of commercial fertilizers long delayed. Under intensive stock farming, where more or less milling by-products rich in fertilizing constituents are usually purchased and fed on the farm, the land will even become richer and more productive year by year, with but little need for commercial fertilizers.

When the great South comes into its own, cattle raising will balance cotton raising. Neither the cotton lint nor the oil obtained from the seed, which is a valuable human food, takes an appreciable amount of fertility from the soil. On the other hand, cottonseed meal is the highest in fertilizing value of all common plant products. Fortunately, it is at the same time the highest in feeding value for cattle of all our commonly available feeding stuffs. Therefore, by feeding the meal resulting from his cotton crop to live stock the southern farmer may bring back to his fields most of the fertility drawn out by the cotton plants in their growth. Thus he may reap a double profit.

2. Consumption of feed otherwise wasted. — In exclusive grain farming there is no successful way of utilizing the large amount of roughage, such as straw and corn stover, which results as a by-product in the growing of the cash crops. Such materials are merely in the way and are disposed of in the easiest manner, often by burning, without regard for the loss of vegetable matter, so much needed by the soil. In a well-planned system of stock husbandry all these materials are utilized for feed or bedding. Much forage which can not be consumed by humans and would otherwise be wasted is thus refined thru the agency of animals and converted into a form suitable for the nourishment of man, while a large part of the organic matter is returned to the fields in the resulting manure. Immense amounts of by-products result from the manufacture of the cereals and other seeds into flour, breakfast foods, vegetable oils, etc. While unsuited for humans, some of these by-products are among our most valued feeds for stock. As the density of population increases and the prices of foodstuffs advance, the feed supplied our farm animals must to an ever increasing extent consist of substances resulting secondarily from the making of human food, whether they be coarse roughages or milling by-products.

3. Utilization of land unsuited for tillage. — In some sections of our country much of the land is so rough or stony that it can not be cropped economically. Here cattle will gather the grass on the smoother stretches and sheep will search out the herbage on the more inaccessible, rocky slopes. Over great areas of the West there is too little rainfall to warrant even dry farming, and irrigation will never be possible, either because of lack of water or the roughness of the land. Yet stock will thrive on the scanty but highly nutritious grasses and other forage. Thru well-planned systems of grazing, with additional feed in time of winter storm or parching drought, the western ranges should, at no far distant date

LIVE STOCK AND PROFITABLE FARMING

IX carry even more stock than they did before large areas were broken up into farms. In the cut-over districts of our country large areas of land may be profitably grazed by live stock before they are finally brought under tillage.

4. Distribution of labor. — Under exclusive grain farming the chief demand for labor is confined to the periods of preparing the land, planting the crops, harvesting, and later marketing the products. During the rush seasons labor is high-priced, and often hard to secure at any cost. On the other hand, live-stock farming offers employment thruout the entire year. Winter, when little other farm work can be done, is the very season when farm animals require the most care and attention, for they are then usually housed instead of at pasture. Because the live-stock farmer can thus offer steady employment he is usually able to secure men who are both more efficient and more reliable than he would otherwise be able to obtain.

5. Intelligent and progressive agriculture. — The whole world over, the most enlightened and progressive agricultural districts are found where live stock provides one of the chief sources of income. This is due to several reasons : The live-stock farmer can not live from hand to mouth, but must providently lay in a store of feed for his animals thruout the winter months. This same care and foresight is then carried into his other activities. Under some systems of agriculture the returns from the year's crops all come in at once, which makes for extravagance and idleness, with resultant poverty until another crop is harvested. On the other hand, under most systems of live-stock farming, income is secured several times during the year.

The care and control of domestic animals, which are intelligent yet submissive to his will, tends to develop the best instincts in man and make him kindly, self-reliant, and trustworthy. The good stockman grows proud of his sleek, well-bred animals and derives a satisfaction therefrom not measured in money. With pride he may hand down to his sons his reputation as a breeder. He is also able to leave them fertile fields which he has built up rather than robbed, a heritage bequeathed by but few grain farmers.

6. Profitable live-stock fanning. — In the early days, with land low in price, pasturage abundant, and feed and labor cheap, making a profit from live-stock farming was comparatively easy, even tho one possessed little knowledge of the principles governing the feeding and care of stock. Conditions have now changed. The great western prairies no longer offer rich fields free for the taking, and hence thruout the country fertile land has advanced in price. No less marked has been the increase in the cost of labor and of feeding stuffs. But the price of live-stock products has also advanced, so that satisfactory profits may still be realized from farm animals. However, present conditions call for a more intelligent type of stock farming than has ruled in the past. Good profits are possible only when all the operations are planned intelligently and with x FEEDS AND FEEDING

good judgment, and there is a thoro appreciation of the requirements of the various classes of animals for food and care.

In the pioneer days of our country the feeds commonly used for live stock were restricted to the grains and forages grown on the farm. Knowledge of the value of these farm-grown products is not now sufficient for intelligent feeding. The problem is complicated by the host of by-products resulting from the manufacture of articles of human food which are offered on the markets as feeding-stuffs for stock. Many of these are valuable and economical supplements to the feeds raised on the farm. However, such products vary considerably in price and even more markedly in nutritive value. Most economical feeding is therefore possible only when the relative value of these different products compared with each other and with the farm-grown crops is clearly understood. In seeking a knowledge of feeds and of feeding we must first consider the plant substances which provide the nourishment for farm animals and study the manner in which these compounds are built up in the living plant. Next we should learn how the food consumed by animals is digested and utilized within the body for the production of meat, milk, work, or wool, and should also study the requirements of each class of animals for food, water, shelter, and exercise. Only then are we in some measure in a position to understand the value and merits for each of the farm animals of the many different feeds, and finally to consider the principles of care and management, the constant observance of which is essential to the highest success in animal husbandry.

Chapter I The Plant; How It Grows And Elaborates Food

FOR ANIMALS

I. Plant Growth

Aside from air, water, and salt, plants either directly or indirectly supply all food for animals. It is therefore proper in beginning these studies to consider briefly how plants grow and elaborate this food.

7. The food of plants. — Of the 80 or more elements known to the chemist, only 14 are commonly present in plants, viz. : carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, sodium, silicon, chlorin, and manganese. Iodine also is present in some plants. With the limited exceptions noted further on, plants cannot make use of the elements, as such, for food, but are nourished and supported by water, carbon dioxid (carbonic acid gas), and mineral salts which contain the elements in chemical combination.

Water is the largest single component of plants, that not held in chemical combination constituting from 75 to 90 per ct. of their fresh weight. The plant obtains practically all its water from the soil thru its roots, only a small amount being taken from the air by the leaves. Soil water, absorbed by the roots, enters the cells of which the plant is composed and passes onward and upward thru the stem, moved by capillarity and sap currents, eventually reaching every portion of the structure, being especially abundant in the leaves and growing parts. Thruout its existence the plant takes great quantities of water from the soil, giving most of it off again to the air thru its leaves and other green parts. For every pound of dry matter which plants produce they take from the soil thru their roots from 200 to 500 lbs. of water in humid climates, and as high as 1,800 lbs. in arid regions.

Next to water, carbon dioxid or carbonic acid gas is the great food material of plants. Ten thousand parts of air contain 3 to 4 parts by volume of carbon dioxid, and about 28 tons of this gas rests over each acre of the earth's surface. The supply of carbon dioxid is never exhausted from the air, because thru the decay and dissolution of plant and animal matter it is being constantly returned thereto. On the under surface of plant leaves are innumerable minute openings, or pores, leading inward among the cells of the leaf structure. The air, penetrating these pores, supplies carbon dioxid, which is absorbed into the cells and thus enters the plant proper. In the production of a 15-ton crop of green corn over 5 tons of carbon dioxid are required, to obtain which the plants must take in over 12,000 tons of air.

Nitrogen abounds in the living, growing, parts of plants. Despite the fact that about three-fourths of the air is nitrogen gas, with the exception noted farther on plants cannot take it up as such, but obtain their supply from the soil by means of their roots, either in the form of nitrates or as ammonia, chiefly the former.

Plants obtain oxygen, which is a part of all plant compounds, largely from water and carbon dioxid, and not from the free oxygen gas of the air. Some free oxygen is necessary, however, for the growth of green plants.

The mineral substances required by plants are taken from the soil thru the roots. They may be grouped as follows :

Sulfates

Phosphates

Nitrates

Chlorids

Silicates

Carbonates

Sulfur, in small amount, is a component of plant proteins. Phosphorus, likewise in small amount, is present in the life-holding protoplasmic protein of the leaf cells and also abounds in the protein of seeds. Potassium is necessary in the formation of starch and sugar by plants. Magnesium is an essential part of chlorophyll, the green coloring matter of plants, which is necessary for their growth. Calcium is vital to plants, tho its use is not well understood. Sodium, silicon, chlorin, and manganese, tho commonly present, are regarded by some authorities as not essential to plant life.

Free oxygen gas is absorbed by seeds during germination, and a small amount is being constantly absorbed by the leaves and fruits of plants. Bacteria inhabiting nodular growths on the roots of leguminous plants, such as clover, alfalfa, and peas, take nitrogen gas from the air and pass it on in combined form to the host plant, thus indirectly supplying this important element. "With these exceptions, the elements, as such, are never used in uncombined form by plants, but serve them only when in chemical combination.

8. Plant building. — Living matter is distinguished from non-living matter by its power to grow, to repair its own waste, and to reproduce of potassium

calcium

magnesium

iron

sodium

ammonium itself. In plants the life principle is most in evidence in the transparent, viscous protoplasm found within the plant cells. Because of inherent differences in the protoplasm, each plant possesses an individuality and is able to grow and reproduce itself after its own manner.

The interior of the plant is everywhere bathed with juice or sap, which is the great fluid medium for conveying the chemical compounds, gathered by leaf and root, to the place where they are formed into organized plant substances or building materials proper, and, later, for transporting the materials thus formed to all parts where needed. By means of this sap, the green-colored protoplasm in the leaf cells is supplied with carbon dioxid taken from the air by the leaves, with water, and with nitrates and other soluble mineral salts taken by the roots from the soil.

In some mysterious manner chlorophyll, the sensitive green coloring matter of plants, is able, under the influence of light, to decompose carbon dioxid and water and rearrange their atoms to form primary plant compounds. The excess of oxygen resulting from this union of carbon dioxid and water is given back to the air as a free gas. It is not definitely known whether the first product formed is starch, sugar, or some simpler compound. From the compounds first formed the plant builds up its more complex substances, some of which contain mineral matter taken from the soil as salts. Sugar and starch contain much energy which may be set free as heat when these substances are burned or otherwise broken up. Carbon dioxid and water, on the other hand, have little internal energy, and so on being decomposed do not liberate heat. Energy must therefore be supplied whenever sugar and starch are formed out of the elements contained in these two energy-poor substances. This energy, used by the active life-holding protoplasm in building carbon dioxid and water into energy-holding sugar and starch, comes from the sun, as light.

9. The carbohydrates. — Sugar and starch are the great common elementary structural substances of plants. With the related products, the celluloses and pentosans, they constitute the major portion of all dry plant substance. They are grouped under the term carbohydrates, meaning formed of carbon and the elements hydrogen and oxygen in the proportion existing in water, the chemical formula for which is H 2 0. The molecular composition of the leading carbohydrates is shown in the following formulae :

Glucose )

Fruit sugar ) 6 12 6

Cane sugar ]

Malt sugar \ ^"^^

Starch ] ^

Cellulose \ (Wti 10 O 5 )x

Pentosan (C 5 H 8 OJx

Pentose C 5 H 10 O 5

Chemists hold that the molecules in the bracketed groups are in reality far more complex than the formulae indicate, the actual molecule being many multiples of the group here given. The formulae not bracketed are held to express the actual atomic composition of the molecule.

All sugars — cane sugar, glucose, malt sugar, fruit sugar, etc. — are soluble in the juices of the plant and constitute the common, portable carbohydrate building material of plants, capable, by diffusion and sap currents, of passing to all parts of the structure as needed. Some plants, the beet and the sugar cane for example, store their carbon reserve as sugar. Starch, however, is the common intermediate carbohydrate reserve of the plant world. It is insoluble in the juices of the plant and so cannot be directly transported as can the sugars. Starch abounds in most seeds, closely packed about the germs, as in the kernels of wheat, Indian corn, etc. Often it is stored in the underground parts of plants, as in potato tubers. When the starch thus stored is needed in other parts of the plant, it is changed by an enzyme, or ferment, called diastase (37) , thru the adding on of water, to malt sugar, which is soluble and can be further changed to glucose by the adding on of more water. The sugars so formed can then be passed from cell to cell until their destination is reached, where they may be again changed to starch, pentosans, or cellulose, as required.

Plants are primarily composed of minute cells, variously grouped and modified, the walls of these cells being formed of cellulose, a carbohydrate. Cellulose is the great insoluble building substance of the vegetable world, constituting as it does almost the whole of the skeleton or framework of plants. As before shown, cellulose is similar to starch and sugar in general composition and originates from them. In the dense wood of trees the cell walls are thick, in some cases nearly filling the entire cell. In the more tender twigs and leaves they are less dense, while in the still softer portions, such as fruits and seeds, they are thin and delicate. More or less mineral matter or ash is built into the cell walls of plants, being especially abundant in the bark of trees, as is shown by the residue when such material is burned.

The pentoses and pentosans are carbohydrates with 5 atoms of carbon in the molecule, in place of 6 as in the sugars and starches. The pentoses correspond to sugars, and the pentosans to starches and cellulose. The pentosans, which are usually associated with cellulose in the more woody portions of the plant, form a considerable part of the nitrogen-free extract of roughages and other feeds high in fiber. For example, hay from the grasses and the straw of the cereal grains usually contain over 20 per ct. of pentosans, and wheat bran about 24 per ct., while corn grain contains less than 6 per ct.

10. Vegetable fats and oils. — In some cases the plant stores carbon in the form of fat, which is solid at ordinary temperatures, or of oil, which is liquid. Such storage is entirely possible since fats and oils are formed from the same elements that exist in the carbohydrates. In vegetable fats and oils the molecules are composed of a larger number of atoms than are those of the sugars, and the proportion of carbon is greater, as the following formulae of 3 common vegetable oils or fats show :