FEEDING THE HORSE 203 



of cracked corn, crushed oats, and bran will be relished, to 

 which may be added a small portion of oil meal, if desired. 

 Bright, sweet, leafy clover or alfalfa hay in season should 

 also be available to the foal, or, if these can not be supplied, 

 then hay of fine quality is next best. 



The colt in its younger days is kept close to the mare, 

 and nurses as often as desired. It is not a wise plan, how- 

 ever, to drive the mare and foal to town and back on hot 

 days or to cause unnecessary excitement for either. Also, 

 the foal should not nurse the mother while she is heated and 

 excited, else indigestion will be likely, to occur. Foals are 

 usually weaned at from four to six months of age, but the 

 time of weaning depends on the amount of milk given by 

 the mare and the condition of mother and colt. As a rule, 

 ' the colt should nurse as long as there is an abundant supply 

 of milk, for no other food can equal the mother's milk. 



Feeding growing horses. After weaning it is important 

 to keep the colt growing and building up a strong frame and 

 body. Muscle-making foods, therefore, are what are needed, 

 such as legumes, hays, and oats, bran, oil meal, cottonseed 

 meal, and bean meal. Plenty of good roughage should be 

 fed along with a small feed of grain. 



At the Pennsylvania station Cochel and Severson fed 

 some draft colts for a year and a half, during which time 

 they made excellent development. The first winter the colts 

 had a feed of 5 pounds of grain daily, in 2 feeds, consisting 

 of 5 parts shelled corn, 3 parts oats, 2 parts wheat bran and 

 1 part linseed meal. At the end of 3 months this ration 

 was increased to 7J^ pounds per day. Silage and hay were 

 also fed these colts. The second winter the grain consisted 

 of shelled corn 6 parts, oats 2, and bran and linseed meal 1 

 part each. Emphasis is placed on the value of pasturage, 

 and the wisdom of feeding all the grain the colts will con- 

 sume when on pasture. Prof. J. L. Edmonds, of the Illinois 

 station, who has conducted extensive experiments in feeding 



