138 SCIENTIFIC FEEDING OF ANIMALS 



foods and to prevent large pieces sticking in the 

 gullet. 



Hard grains of corn easily escape the action of 

 the teeth and so pass unchanged into the dung. 

 Certain species of animals and those with defective 

 teeth should get their corn either crushed or ground. 

 It is often a matter of discussion whether oats 

 should be crushed for horses. Trials in which 

 chopped hay was mixed with the oats showed that 

 when the whole grains were fed 64-6% of the dry 

 matter of the oat was digested, when crushed oats 

 were given 68-6%, and coarsely ground oats 72-7%. 

 It was found in another series of experiments that 

 by crushing the oats 5-16 Ibs., according to the 

 animal, could be saved on each 1000 Ibs. of grain. 

 Sometimes, of course, the cost of crushing will not 

 be repaid by the gain in digestibility. Amongst 

 owners of horses there seems to be a fairly prevalent 

 idea that crushed oats are not so good as whole ones 

 for maintaining the vivacity and staying powers 

 of the animal. 



Maize, barley, rye, buckwheat, and leguminous 

 seeds should be coarsely ground for all animals, as 

 these hard grains are difficult to chew, and when 

 eaten whole they swell considerably in the stomach. 

 Horses were found to digest only 82-5% of the dry 

 matter of whole maize, whereas when the maize 

 was ground they digested 89-5%. In the case of 

 pigs the difference was greater, 74-4% as against 



