170 DESCRIPTION OF FEEDING STUFFS 



Eye makes a valuable feed for horses and fattening swine ; it is 

 often fed soaked to the latter farm animals, and is preferably fed 

 ground and mixed with other concentrates to other classes of live- 

 stock. Eye was found to have about the same feeding value as barley 

 in extensive Danish swine-feeding experiments, and the quality of 

 the pork produced was satisfactory. The best results were, how- 

 ever, obtained with mixtures of the two cereals. 



Wheat is too high-priced, as a general rule, to be used for feed- 

 ing farm animals. In exceptional cases it may be advisable to use 

 it for this purpose, however, and it is well, therefore, to understand 

 its nutritive value and main characteristics, especially since the 

 lower grades of wheat can generally be used for stock feeding to 

 advantage, even at present-day market prices for grains. 



Wheat stands close to barley in composition and feeding value. 

 It is of slightly lower value as a feed for fattening animals, but 

 is superior to this cereal in nutritive effect for young and growing 

 animals and for dairy cows. It is lower in fat but somewhat higher 

 in protein and carbohydrates than corn ; its digestibility is as high 

 as that of the other cereals except oats, which, as stated, have a 

 somewhat lower digestibility than these on account of their rela- 

 tively high fiber content. 



Wheat is generally ground before feeding. On account of its 

 large content of gliadin and glutenin, it forms a sticky paste when 

 chewed, and for this reason is preferably fed in mixtures with more 

 bulky concentrates, like oats or wheat bran. 



Damaged wltieat (salvage wheat from elevator fires, etc.) is at 

 times obtainable at a low cost; the better grades make a valuable 

 feed, but slightly inferior to a good grade of wheat. 



Grain screenings are mixtures of broken or shrunken grain, 

 weed seeds, chaff, pieces of straw, dirt, etc., which are obtained in 

 the cleaning of grain in elevators. They vary considerably in their 

 chemical composition and feeding value, according to their origin 

 and the character of the impurities contained in the grain. On 

 account of the large proportion of different weed seeds in screenings, 

 they are expensive feeds at any price to farmers who wish to keep 

 their land as free as possible from noxious weeds. Many of the 

 weed seeds in screenings will pass through the animals uninjured 

 and will germinate when the manure is put on the land, 7 thus 

 rendering cultivation more expensive and reducing the yield of 

 cultivated crops through the growth of weeds. Many farmers do 

 not, therefore, wish to buy screenings under any condition, and this 



7 Vermont Bulletins 131 and 138. 



