218 FEEDS AND FEEDING 



i 



II. STRAW AND CHAFF 



As the cereals and other plants mature, the nutrients which have been 

 built up in the green portions of the plants are in large part stored in 

 the ripening seed, thus exhausting the stems and leaves of easily digested 

 nutrients and leaving in them the resistant woody fiber, or cellulose. All 

 straws are therefore much lower in nutritive value than the same plants 

 cut for hay before maturity. The feeding value of each class of straw 

 may differ widely, depending on the stage at which the crop was cut, 

 the care with which it was cured, and the amount of the more nutritious 

 grasses and weeds present. 



328. Straw and chaff of the cereals. Straw is poor in crude protein 

 and fat, and high in woody fiber, or cellulose, a carbohydrate that re- 

 quires much energy for its digestion and disposal. (80) Accordingly, 

 it should be fed but sparingly to animals at hard work, fattening rapidly, 

 or giving a large flow of milk. For animals at light work, fattening 

 slowly, or giving only a little milk some straw can often be advantageous- 

 ly used. Straw is particularly useful in winter with horses that are idle 

 and cattle that are being carried over without materially gaining in 

 weight. Heat is one of the requirements of such animals, and the large 

 amount of energy expended in masticating, digesting, and passing straw 

 thru the body finally appears as heat which helps warm the body. (501, 

 502) The stockman who understands the nature and properties of straw 

 will usually be able to make large use of it. In Canada and Europe 

 pulped roots and meal are often mixed with straw, which is cut or 

 " chaffed, " and the moist mass allowed to soften and even to ferment 

 slightly. It is then readily consumed in large quantities by cattle and 

 sheep with satisfactory results. In many parts of Europe horses are 

 fed cut straw mixed with their concentrates. In trials at the Indiana 

 Station, Skinner and King found oat straw as satisfactory as clover hay 

 for satisfying the desire for dry roughage of steers otherwise fed shelled 

 corn, cottonseed meal, and corn silage. When fed with corn silage, oat 

 straw is equal to corn stover for fattening lambs. (778, 862) 



Oat straw with its soft, pliable stems is the most nutritious, followed 

 by barley straw. Wheat straw, being coarse and stiff, is not so readily 

 eaten by cattle, tho spring- wheat straw is of more value than that from 

 winter wheat. Eye straw, harsh and woody, is better suited for bedding 

 than for feed. The chaff of wheat and oats contains more crude protein 

 than does straw, and forms a useful roughage when not unduly con- 

 taminated with dust, rust, or mold. 



329. Straw from the legumes and other plants. Straw from the le- 

 gumes contains considerably more crude protein and less fiber than 

 that from the cereals and is more digestible. Therefore it has a higher 

 feeding value when cured well and not moldy. In a trial at the Michigan 

 Station 43 field-lean straw proved superior to oat straw for fattening 



43 Mumford, Mich. Bui. 136. 



