10 wheat | | | | | | | | | | straw, 10 |119.00|23.20|1,038| 7.74| 0.21| 4.06| 1.91| 1.69|15.4 |0.8 clover hay, | | | | | | | | | | 11.7 bean | | | | | | | | | | meal, 2.8 | | | | | | | | | | starch, and | | | | | | | | | | 0.5 rape oil | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 17.86 bean | | | | | | | | | | straw, and | 54.84|12.60|1,043| 7.06| 0.40| 2.53| 1.21| 1.15| 5.3 |0.83 1.6 bean meal | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 14.88 bean | | | | | | | | | | straw | 55.76|16.34|1,036| 5.45| 0.11| 1.41| 0.67| 0.64| 3.83|0.3 | | | | | | | | | | 16.90 meadow | | | | | | | | | | hay | 36.26|15.14|1,042| 7.91| 1.30| 1.73| 0.91| 0.92| 4.37|3.3 --------------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----- The varying quantity of urea (from 1.6 to 15.4 ounces) is most suggestive as to the action of the more or less nitrogenous feed and the resulting concentration of the urine and blood. Hippuric acid, on the other hand, is most abundant when the animal is fed on hay and straw. The specific gravity of the urine of cattle varies from 1,030 to 1,060 in health, water being 1,000. It is transparent, with a yellowish tinge, and has a characteristic, musky smell. The chemical reaction is alkaline, turning red litmus paper blue. The quantity passed in twenty-four hours varies greatly, increasing not only with the water drunk, but with the albuminoids taken in with the feed and the urea produced. If a solution of urea is injected into the veins the secretion of urine is greatly augmented. Similarly the excess of salts like carbonate of potash in the feed, or of sugar, increases the action of the kidneys. Only about 20 per cent of the water swallowed escapes in the urine, the remaining 80 per cent passing mostly from the lungs, and to a slight extent by the bowels. The skin of the ox does not perspire so readily nor so freely as that of the horse; hence the kidneys and lungs are called upon for extra work. The influence of an excess of water in the feed is most remarkable in swill-fed distillery cattle, which urinate profusely and frequently, yet thrive and fatten rapidly.