296 FEEDS AND FEEDING 



comes in April and May, during plowing, disking, harrowing, and 

 seeding. 



Including the expenses for fuel, lubricants, repairs, depreciation, and 

 interest on the investment, the annual cost of operating a farm tractor 

 of average size will be $300 to $600, according to Handschin, Andrews 

 and Rauchenstein. They conclude that on the average corn-belt farm 

 growing less than 240 acres of crops, the horse costs can not be reduced 

 enough by the use of a tractor to offset the cost of operating it. They 

 point out that this does not mean that every corn-belt farm with over 

 240 cultivated acres should use a tractor, nor that smaller farms will 

 always find a tractor unprofitable, for the conditions on the particular 

 farm must be taken into consideration. For instance, there may be a 

 special need for belt power on the farm or in the neighborhood, which 

 would justify the purchase of a tractor where otherwise it would not be 

 profitable. When the cost of feed and the price of horses are relatively 

 low compared with the cost of tractors and their operation, farmers will 

 rely entirely on horses on farms where they would otherwise use a 

 tractor. 



II. PREPARATION OP FEED; WATER; SALT 



461. Chaffing hay. With horses at ordinary farm work, which have 

 abundant time to chew their feed thoroly, cutting or chaffing hay prob- 

 ably does not result in sufficient saving to warrant the expense, unless 

 hay is high in price. However, in stables where large numbers of 

 horses are kept, the hay is frequently chaffed. Somewhat less is then 

 wasted, especially if it is of rather poor quality, and dust may be easily 

 laid by sprinkling with water. The grain allowance is often mixed with 

 part of the chaffed hay, which forces the horses to eat the grain more 

 slowly and chew it more thoroly. A common practice in Europe is to 

 mix cut straw with chaffed hay, more straw thus being eaten than would 

 otherwise be the case. 



462. Soaking or cooking grain. When such grains as wheat and barley 

 cannot conveniently be rolled or ground, they should be soaked before 

 feeding, to soften the kernels. Ear corn that is so dry and flinty as to 

 injure the horses ' mouths should also be soaked or ground. 



While once common, the custom of cooking even a small portion of the 

 feed given to horses has almost ceased. Johnstone, 23 who had the practice 

 thoroly ingrained into his nature by early Scotch experience, out of his 

 later observations writes : ' * Time was when I considered the feeding of 

 sloppy stuff a necessity in properly wintering brood mares, but experience 

 has shown me that dry food is best. Therefore I prefer uncooked food. . . 

 Time was when I believed that for stallions during the season it was 

 an excellent plan to give a mash of boiled barley every Wednesday and 

 Saturday night. . . . The experiments have, however, shown that the ad- 

 dition of this material to a horse's grain ration makes no appreciable dif- 

 ference in the manner in which the grain is digested." (425-9) 



28 The Horse, p. 77. 



