360 IOWA DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Some time ago a city physician informed us of the fact that he was un- 

 able to keep his horses in good flesh, and asked our advice as to the method 

 of feeding them. Upon inquiry we learned that corn alone was being fed. 

 At our suggestion he changed the food to the following ration: A mix- 

 ture composed of seventy-five pounds of oats, fifty pounds of corn and 

 twenty-five pounds of bran, to be fed to the amount of fifteen or eighteen 

 pounds a day per animal. To his surprise, although not to ours, the horses 

 immediately began to gain flesh. Now this was due to the fact that the 

 bran and oats in the new ration supplied a larger amount of flesh-forming 

 material, so that horses doing a large amount of driving daily were kept 

 in a much more muscular condition when on this food, while at the same 

 time their appearance was much improved. 



Work on the farm is generally much more erratic than that in the 

 city, and under average conditions it is more difficult to keep work horses 

 in the same bloom. However, if less corn were fed and the ration we have 

 named above substituted we believe the horses would give more satis- 

 factory service and at the same time appear in much better flesh. It is 

 true that where one raises his own feed that a bushel of corn can be 

 grown much more cheaply than a bushel of oats, and yet at the same 

 time we believe that it will pay to compound a ration for the work horse 

 in which oats is given a prominent part. 



As to the quantity to be fed per day there is some little difference 

 of opinion. We find that the United States cavalry horse weighing 1,000 

 or 1,100 pounds is fed twelve pounds of oats per day, while the German 

 cavalry horse receives ten pounds per day. In Great Britain these horses 

 when on severe duty receive from twelve to fourteen pounds of oats per 

 day. Prof. Henry reports a case of draft horses at work receiving twenty- 

 two pounds of grain per day consisting of thirteen pounds of oats, six 

 pounds of beans and three pounds of corn. It will be seen that there is 

 considerable variation in the amount of grain fed to horses under various 

 conditions. However, it is our experience that the average farm horse 

 weighing from 1,400 to 1,800 pounds will require from fifteen to eighteen 

 pounds per day of a mixture composed of three parts oats, two ;>arts corn 

 and one part bran. Horses fed in this manner and given good, clean hay 

 will do a heavy day's work and remain in good flesh. 



