LINSEED MEAL.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 433, 24 January 1912, Page 3

LINSEED MEAL.

Linseed meal (commonly spoken of as oil-cake) should have an important place in the economy of feeding (says the American Agriculturist). The higher the relative price of other grains the more important is it that oilcake should be fed, at least in moderate quantities. One great advantage is that it has a beneficial effect upon the digestion, in addition to the nutrients it contains. Any food that tends to improve the digestion possesses an intrinsic value far above the value measured by the nutrients alone. The high feeding value of linseed meal is well brought out by comparing its analysis with that of cornmeal. The following is the analysis of cornmeal:—Total dry matter, 85 per cent.; protein, 6.26; carbohydrates, 65.26; fat, 3.50 Linseed meal by the new process has total dry matter, 9.01 per cent.; protein, 30.59; carbohydrates, 38.72; fat, 2.90. Thus the linseed meal has nearly five times the protein contained in cornmeal. Compared with corn, the contrast is not so great, the protein in the corn itself being 7.14 per cent. The cabohyrdrates are 66.12 per cent., not far different from those in cornmeal and the fat in corn is considerably more; that is, 4.79 per cent. The protein in linseed meal, as compared with corn, is a little more than four times as much. From analysis, therefore, linseed meal furnishes a superb food for a growing animals and for milch cows. But in all instances there is a limit beyond which it should not be fed, as, owing tot he considerable fat in it, there is a tendency to cloy the appetite. If given in ecxess to dairy cows there is a tendency to produce butter lacking in firmness. This must be kept in view, therefore, when feeding it to young animals and to dairy cows. Linseed meal feeds excellently along with corn, furnishing an abundance of protein, in which the corn is lacking. Of course, in the a dvanced stages of fattening, large quantities are not wanted.