Feeding Stuffs. 137 



Phosphorus, an essential component of the bones and of milk, 

 is abundant in bran, while lime, likewise needed in still larger 

 amount, is only sparingly present. Horses heavily fed on wheat 

 bran or middlings sometimes suffer from a form of rickets called 

 "bran disease," 1 which seriously affects their bones. To supply 

 the lime which bran lacks, farm animals may either be fed lime in 

 inorganic form wood ashes, ground limestone, burned lime, or 

 ground rock phosphate (floats), (89, 90) or they may be supplied 

 lime in organic form by feeding lime-laden plants, such as the 

 legumes, which include alfalfa, clover, vetch, cowpea, etc. 



Knowing the properties of bran, one is in position to advanta- 

 geously use this most valuable feed. The best grades of bran are 

 of light weight, with large, clean flakes and no foreign matter. 

 As bran is too valuable to be used as the sole concentrate for farm 

 animals, it should be mixed with other concentrates to lighten the 

 ration or add bulk while improving its nutritive qualities. Sup- 

 plied to horses once or twice a week in the form of a "mash" made 

 with scalding water, bran proves a mild, beneficial laxative. When 

 used continuously, the animal system becomes accustomed to it 

 and the laxative property is less marked. Hard-worked horses 

 have neither time nor energy to digest feeds of much bulk, and 

 hence their allowance of bran should be somewhat limited. It may 

 be supplied more freely to colts, growing horses, brood mares, and 

 stallions. (420) Because of its crude protein and phosphorus, it 

 serves its highest purpose in giving virility and in helping to build 

 bone and muscle without tending to fatten. Being light in char- 

 acter, it is most useful for combining with corn and other heavy 

 feeds for fattening cattle. Bran is a most excellent feed for the 

 dairy cow, being slightly laxative, giving bulk to the ration, and 

 providing the crude protein and phosphorus so vital to the forma- 

 tion of milk. (632) It is equally satisfactory for breeding sheep 

 and lambs. Tho too strawlike for young pigs, (852) it is valuable 

 in giving bulk and nutriment to the ration for breeding swine and 

 stock hogs when they are not getting legume pasture or hay. (906) 

 Rationally used, bran is of great value in putting the body of the 

 female farm animal in the best condition to bear her young. 



166. Wheat middlings and shorts. To some extent "middlings" 

 and "shorts" are interchangeable terms. Flour wheat middlings 

 are of higher grade than standard middlings and often contain 

 considerable low-grade flour. Standard wheat middlings comprise 



1 Law's Vet. Medicine, ill, p. 572. 



