2l6 ELEMENTARY TREATISE ON STOCK FEEDS AND FEEDING 



the whole grain portion of the ration, or it may be used with 

 corn, wheat, bran, barley and similar feeds. 



There is no food that will take the place of oats for horses. 

 The presence of the hull makes the feed light enough for the 

 digestive juices to permeate freely. Oats should be ground for 

 horses with poor teeth. Oats is a well balanced feed. 



Barley is sometimes mixed with oats, or fed alone. On the 

 Pacific slope, barley is fed a great deal to horses. Crushing or 

 grinding barley helps in the mastication. Sometimes linseed 

 meal or wheat bran is mixed with barley when fed to horses. 



Wheat. Ground wheat, mixed with oats or bran, is sometimes 

 used as horse feed. Wheat requires some bulky feed to supple- 

 ment it, because when fed alone it becomes sticky in the mouth. 

 The market value of wheat generally prohibits its use as a horse 

 feed. 



Corn is fed extensively in the South and West. It is fed on 

 the ear, shelled, or ground fine. Corn and cob meal because 

 of its bulk is better for horses than corn meal when fed alone. 

 When corn meal is fed it should be diluted with some bulky 

 feed like wheat bran. Corn is more of a fattening feed than 

 oats and it causes the animal to sweat freely, but may be used 

 to good advantage as part of a ration. Corn is a very satisfac- 

 tory feed in cold weather for horses because of its heat pro- 

 ducing power. Corn runs low in ash and protein and must be 

 supplemented with feeds running high in these constituents. 



Kaffir Corn. When this feed is ground it may be used for 

 horses. This feed is not as valuable as corn but may be often 

 profitably fed in semi-arid sections where corn cannot be grown 

 successfully. 



Cotton-Seed Meal. As much as 2 Ibs. of this feed per day 

 may be fed to a horse or mule weighing 1,000 Ibs. doing hard 

 work. It is not desirable to feed too much cotton-seed meal to 

 horses although a moderate daily amount, I to 2 Ibs., mixed 

 with other grains, seems to give good results. There is a great 

 variation in the chemical composition of cotton-seed meal as 

 manufactured and the feeder should try to secure meal carry- 



