38 FARM ANIMALS 



Bran. Bran is known to all horsemen as a 

 valuable feed. It is considered as having a slight 

 laxative effect and as maintaining a good condition 

 of the skin and a softness and silkiness of the hair. 

 Even when it is not used as a continued part of the 

 ration it is usually fed once a week or oftener in the 

 form of a wet mash. Recently the Canadian 

 government made a direct comparison of the 

 feeding value of bran and oats for heavy horses. 

 It was found that the oat ration in order to be as 

 effective as bran and oats cost two cents per day 

 more for each horse. A ration containing two 

 parts of bran, one part of linseed meal, and two 

 parts of oats is considered as an almost ideal grain 

 ration for horses. In some cases the use of a large 

 quantity of bran, apparently makes animals soft 

 and inclined to perspire more readily than when 

 oats or other grains are used. A comparison of 

 bran with oats in New Hampshire showed con- 

 clusively that bran may be substituted for oats 

 with a saving in the expense of the ration. A 

 mixture of corn and bran was found to be an 

 exceedingly effective and cheap ration for both 

 summer and winter work. In North Dakota a 

 combination of bran and shorts proved to be 

 equally as effective as oats for horses. The 

 results of this experiment show that when oats are 

 worth 25 cents a bushel bran and shorts are 

 worth $15 . 60 per ton for the same purpose. 



Horse Bread. The use of bread for feeding 

 horses is familiar to nearly all horse-raisers. Bread 

 for this purpose has been made from the flour of 

 wheat, rye, barley, and other cereals, and in some 

 cases has been mixed with various other materials 

 including blood, milk, molasses, etc. In one in- 

 stance a horse bread prepared from skim milk and 



