16 



It is believed by many that horses show more spirit when oats form 

 part of the ration. Discussing this subject, Director W. A. Henry, <* 

 of the Wisconsin Experiment Station, says: 



Horses nurtured on oats show mettle which can not be reached by the use of any 

 other feeding stuff. Tlien, too, there is no grain so safe for horse feeeding, the ani- 

 mal rarely being seriously injured if by accident or otherwise the groom deals out 

 an oversupply. This safety is due in no small measure to the presence of the oat 

 hull, which causes a given weight of grain to possess considerable volume, because 

 of which there is less liability of mistake in measuring out the ration; further, the 

 digestive tract can not hold a quantity of oat grains sufficient to produce serious dis- 

 orders. Unless the horse is hard pressed for time or has poor teeth oats should be 

 fed in the whole condition. Musty oats should be avoided. 



Horsemen generally agree that new oats should not be used, though Boussingault, 

 conducting extensive experiments with army horses, arrived at the conclusion that 

 new oats do not possess the injurious qualities attributed to them. 



In the opinion of Lavalard:* 



Not only may single grains and other single foods be substituted for oats, but more 

 or less complex mixtures may T)e used as well. We believe tliat both from a hygi- 

 enic and an economic standpoint our experiments have settled this matter, which 

 has provoked so much discussion. An examination of the statistics we have gath- 

 ered in the last thirty-five years show that, although a great saving has been effected, 

 it has not been at the expense of the productive power of the horses. 



Boussingault, perhaps, first suggested on the basis of experiments 

 that other materials may be substituted for oats in the ration of 

 horses. He prepared a table of nutritive equivalents, using hay as a 

 unit of comparison. This was not very satisfactory, since the com- 

 position of hay varies within wide limits. 



The grain most commonly substituted for oals in this country is 

 Indian corn or maize. It is so commonly used, especially in the South 

 and West, that it is difKcult to realize the prejudice which has existed 

 against it in other countries. It has been asserted that there are 

 cUmatic and other conditions which render corn a suitable horse feed 

 in America which do not exist elsewhere. This hardly seems reason- 

 able, and has not been borne out by the numerous experiments under- 

 taken in France, Germany, and other countries. Such experiments 

 have demonstrated the value of corn and shown the truth of the 

 opinions generally held in this country, namely, that it is a safe and 

 satisfactory feeding stuff for horses. 



Barley, rye, and wheat are sometimes fed to horses. Their resem- 

 blance to oats will be seen by reference to the table. All these grains 

 should be substituted on the basis of chemical composition, and not 

 pound for pound. As would be expected, the ground grains differ 

 little from the same varieties before grinding. 



Bran, shorts, middlings, and other by-products vary in composition, 

 but all have a low water content, while the crude fiber content is gen- 



a Feeds and Feeding, Madison, Wis., 1898. 



6 Experiment Station Record, 12 (1900-1901), p. -L 



