FEEDING STOCK. gfl 



What he wants is re-production, and good, fair, healthy, average 

 growth answers his purpose and is better than the most rapid 

 growth; but when the object is to obtain the greatest growth in 

 the least time, that is another thing. Then he must feed the largest 

 possible amount of the right kind of food which these animals 

 can digest and assimilate. So with milk, but mind, the same feed 

 that produces the most rapid growth, will not be precisely the 

 same which would most probably produce the greatest amount of 

 milk. There is where knowledge and judgment must be used ; 

 here are questions which must be first settled ; these are the 

 doubtful points in practice, the very questions upon which we 

 need more light, more scientific knowledge, more practical know- 

 ledge and more skillful practice. One word in reference to the 

 question of hay being the' best possible feed. The gentleman 

 who last spoke says he learned a valuable lesson last winter. I 

 have no doubt of it, but it was no part of that lesson to keep 

 stock on short feed. He learned from an unusual course of feed- 

 ing, from using a different kind of feed from what he had before 

 used. My statement was that the best quality of hay was not 

 sufficient; that on the best grass we have you could not obtain 

 the greatest amount possible of growth. lie obtained his satis- 

 factory results last winter by using unusually large quantities of 

 concentrated food in connection with hay. By combining the two 

 he learned his lesson ; but uever has a man learned that short feed 

 will produce the best possible results. 



Mr. Lucas. There are very few farmers who ever use first rate 

 hay in feeding their cattle. It is nearly all cut too late. Another 

 thing, what farmers estimate to be twenty tons will almost invari- 

 ably prove to be not more than fifteen tons; and they think they 

 are feeding out more than they really do. 



I will state how I wintered some colts last winter. My first 

 feed in the morning was two quarts of dry corn, the next at noon, 

 three quarts of oats ; at night, about six quarts of Indian meal 

 mixed with cold water, and what straw they would eat. They all 

 came out as well as any I ever had. Now comes the question 

 whether that feed was any better than good, early cut ha} 7 , cured 

 out of the sun, kept green, and fed in proper quantities, and noth- 

 iug else with it; whether it will grow them better, or keep them 

 in a better condition. If we give a horse or cow or calf just as 

 much as they will eat, we can grow them very fast ; we can give 

 them a less quantity and make them hold their own, and that is 



