288 AGRICULTURE FOR COMMON SCHOOLS 



(c) Feeding Dry Feed. — In the northern states all live 

 stock has to be fed during the winter months. The farmer 

 usually has only hay, straw, or stover for feed. The milch 

 cows and work-horses usually receive some grain, but the 

 other animals rarely receive any. This way of wintering 

 animals is not the best, because the young animals need some 

 grain to keep them growing. Then, too, all the animals keep 

 in better health and make better use of their feed if some 

 kind of succulent feed, like silage or root crops, is fed. 



Animals which are being fattened are usually fed heavily 

 on dry feed, largely grain. Silage is not generally used by 

 stockmen for feeding fattening steers, as its profitableness has 

 not been fully proved. The question whether it pays to house 

 or shelter live stock has been much discussed, and various 

 experiments have been conducted to find the correct answer. 

 The results of experiments seem to indicate that fattening 

 animals do better when fed in open yards and with a shelter 

 closed on two or three sides under which to sleep and seek 

 protection from bad weather. In the case of animals which 

 are not fattening, such as milch cows and young growing 

 animals, it has been shown that housing in a well-ventilated 

 barn with open yards to go into on pleasant days is best. 

 Fattening animals create a great deal of heat in the digesting 

 of their food, and as fat is produced some is laid on under 

 the skin which helps to keep the animal warm. 



{d) Grinding and Cooking Feeds. — It is frequently asked 

 whether it will pay to grind feed for animals, and whether 

 cooking adds to its digestibility. These questions have been 

 carefully studied by the various agricultural experiment sta- 

 tions as well as by practical feeders. It is generally agreed 

 that grinding the grain fed adds to its digestibility. The di- 



