54 MOUNTED INSTRUCTION 



day of rest or light exercise. In effect it is appetizing, affords a variety 

 in diet, has a mechanical laxative effect, and as proven by experience 

 animals improve and pick up very rapidly on it. 



It should be thoroughly cooked and fed lukewarm with a little 

 salt added. 



A cooker can be easily improvised from old buckets, boilers, g. i. 

 cans, etc. 



Bran: Bran is an excellent food for growing horses. Bran mashes 

 have the same general effect as the cooked feeds and are frequently 

 used. In preparing them bran is saturated with boiling water and al- 

 lowed to steam. Bran is frequently fed uncooked, mixed with the chop. 



Hay: The hay should be shaken out over a screen on a paulin or 

 clean hard floor. The mesh of the screen should be about two inches. 

 That part which falls through the mesh, called the screening, con- 

 tains leaves, seeds, flowers, and other small particles of hay which 

 would otherwise be lost, and dirts. This hay screening is the most 

 nutritious part of the hay and except in the case of prairie hay which 

 has practically no flowers, represents about ten per cent of the nutri- 

 ment in the hay. This is separated from the dirt, or cleaned by col- 

 lecting and immersing in water, and is then added to the grain feed to. 

 help form the chop. 



About 30% (10% at each grain feed) of the loose hay should be 

 chopped (to about one-inch lengths) and added to the grain to form the 

 chop. 



Hay must always be dampened before mixing with grain, in order 

 to lay the dust and so that the grain and hay will mix and stay 

 mixed. 



The balance of the hay is fed long, preferably in hay nets, otherwise 

 in mangers or hay racks. 



Chop: Chop, as has been seen, is grain mixed with screened and 

 chopped hay. Any other available food that can be added to it. such 

 as carrots, or other edible green plant, will increase its palatability, 

 digestibility and nutriment. A little salt added also increases its pal- 

 atability. 



Due to its bulk it is eaten much more slowly than grain alone, and is 

 consequently digested more thoroughly. 



Hours of Feeding: Small feeds fed at short intervals are preferable 

 to large ones fed at long intervals. This is shown by the physiology 

 of digestion and is proven by experience ; also it approximates more 

 closely the natural way of feeding of animals at liberty. 



Small feeds are easier on the digestive system and more economical 

 as more nutriment is obtained from the same amount of food. 



The following feed schedule based on the normal ration of the twelve 

 pounds of oats and fourteen pounds of hay will afford an example 

 of feeding which under normal conditions enables the animals to obtain 

 the maximum food value from the ration. 



