84 THE SCIENTIFIC FEEDING OF ANIMALS 



gradually. In recent years, however, the supposed danger of feeding 

 fresh oats is more and more disregarded and it is generally assumed 

 that fresh sound oats, properly harvested, may be fed without danger, 

 provided the change to the new feed is made carefully and gradually. 



Long storage impairs the value of oats, causes loss of nutrients'^ and 

 makes them less digestible. As a rule oats should not be kept in storage 

 longer than one year. 



Jtuiging. — Good oats should be mature, well filled, dry, thin hulled, 

 not too small, uniform in size and have a good odor. There should be 

 no admixture of foreign matter and no odor suggesting kiln drying. 

 Good oats should be free from ergot, rust and smut fungi, seeds of corn 

 cockle and poisonous darnel {Lolium temulentum), as free as possible 

 from undeveloped grains, and the seeds of vetches, charlock, brome and 

 other weeds, and free from sand, earth and other dirt. German mili- 

 tary regulations provide for the rejection of oats containing injurious 

 insects or traces of the same, worm webs, etc. The standard weight 

 per liter should not, if possible, be below 462 grams (462 to 500 grams). 

 In judging or grading oats the proportionate amounts of plump, normal, 

 lean and screening grains should be noted. Uniform normal grains are 

 superior and preferable to a mixture of plump and screening grades. 

 The color should be yellowish white, pale yellow or grayish white, 

 rarely black and shiny. Of the yellow varieties the golden yellow is 

 preferable. Exposure to rain after cutting causes loss of bright color 

 and the appearance of spots. The lighter colored varieties take on a 

 shade of gray, or even an ash gray; the golden yellow varieties become 

 reddish to grayish yellow. To improve the color oats are sometimes 

 bleached with sulphur, recognizable by the presence of an odor of sul- 

 phur fumes. (Smith estimates that in six months beginning October 1, 

 1908, nearly 19,000,000 bushels of oats and barley were bleached at 13 

 grain centers in three North Central States of the United States. — Trans- 

 lator.) Green tips on the glumes or hulls, shrinking or shriveling and 

 light weight indicate immaturity. The protein content of oats of this 

 character is usually unchanged, but the starch value is much reduced. 

 In the black varieties of oats the entire grain should be of cofifee brown 

 or black color. If the tips only are black this indicates a spoiled con- 

 dition. Spoiled oats have frequently been the cause of serious poison- 

 ing. Inspections should always be made in daylight, with blue back- 

 ground (blue paper) to aid in recognizing the various shades of colors. 



The odor should be characteristically aromatic. Foreign, unpleasant, 

 close, musty, moldy, or kiln-dry odors should be absent. The latter is 

 due to the kiln-drying of oats harvested in unfavorable weather. Such 



i2Losses caused by storage of grains depend upon the oxygen supply and moisture content of 

 the grain. In hermetically closed containers (silos) oats lose 1 per cent of their total carbon in 

 one year. In vessels or containers through which a constant stream of air is slowly forced the 

 loss amounts to 6.5 per cent. The oxidizing processes which go on in the oat 'grain are favored 

 by high water content and high temperature. They affect chiefly the starch content, to a less 

 degree the fat, and to a slight degree only the crude protein and sugar. In flour or cracked 

 grain the losses are greater than in whole grain. 



