Feeds for the Horse. 269 



work as well as those fed oats, and that corn was not detrimental to 

 health nor did it induce laziness or lack of endurance. He holds that 

 for mature horses at general farm work ear corn is as efficient as 

 the same weight of oats. It should be remembered that the horses 

 used were mature geldings employed at farm work, and that the 

 roughage fed was mixed clover and timothy hay. 



At the North Dakota Station 1 Shepperd found that mules fed 7.7 

 Ibs. of mixed corn and oats gained 0.7 Ib. daily, while on 8.8 Ibs. of 

 oats they lost 0.6 Ib., the work being the same for all. Shepperd 

 concluded that 100 Ibs. of corn mixed with 125 Ibs. of oats had a 

 greater feeding value than 225 Ibs. of clear oats. 



Beginning in 1874 the Paris Omnibus Company, employing nearly 

 10,000 horses averaging about 1200 Ibs. each, conducted extensive 

 feeding trials with Indian corn. Feeding corn exclusively was found 

 to depress the spirits of the horses, and accordingly a mixture of 

 6.6 Ibs. of corn and 12.1 Ibs. of oats was adopted, varying somewhat 

 with different horses. Lavalard 2 states that thru this combination 

 the company effects a saving of from $200,000 to $300,000 yearly. 

 The Paris Cab Company, also beginning at about the same time to 

 feed corn in place of oats, had such satisfactory results that it has 

 almost entirely ceased feeding oats. Concerning his studies with 

 military horses Lavalard writes: "The horses fed the corn ration 

 were used the same number of hours in military drill, and in the 

 maneuvers were ridden at the same gait as those fed oats, and it was 

 practically impossible to perceive the least difference in the two 

 classes. The army officers, prejudiced as they naturally were, were 

 forced to admit that all the horses showed the same energy and vigor. 

 Careful records kept show that sickness and mortality were the same 

 for the horses on the two rations. " 



After years of study, covering the feeding of some 16,000 horses 

 in Paris and some 17,000 French army horses, Lavalard 3 writes: 

 "Experiments have demonstrated that corn can replace oats in the 

 ration of both army and cavalry horses, and if substituted weight 

 for weight, it increases the nutritive value of the ration. This is the 

 same deduction which . . . was made for the two great cab com- 

 panies of Paris." 



Many persons object to corn, affirming that horses fed thereon lack 

 nerve and action, sweat easily, and wear out earlier, all of which 

 may be true in certain rather rare cases. The high position of corn 

 1 Bui. 45. 2 Expt. Sta. Eec., 12. 3 Loc. cit. 



