EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 



229 



WINTERING FARM HORSES. 



DY IT. W. NORTON. JR. 



On the average IMichigan farm there is comparatively little work for 

 horses duriuj? the winter months and this fact, tooether with the high 

 prices of feed during the past few ^ears, has made the standard horse 



Illustration 1. 



ration of timothy hay and oats an expensive one. The following work 

 has been done by the Farm Department with a view toward formulating 

 more economical rations suitable to maintain horses in good flesh 

 during the season of the year when work is light. This report is of 

 a preliminary nature and more complete results will be reported after 

 the experiment has been repeated. 



In the trial, completed during the past winter, sixteen horses belong- 

 ing to the collef-.e were under tesL throughout a period of ten weeks, 

 from December 1st, 1907, to February 8th, 1908. Six horses, Nos. 1, 

 2, 3, 4, 5 and G, owned by the Horticultural Department, were fed the 

 regular ration of timothy hay and oats. Six horses, Nos. 7, 8, 9, 10, 

 11 and 12, owned by the Farm Department, were fed on a cheaper 

 ration made up of shredded corn stalks, oat straw and hay for roughage, 



