LIVE STOCK. 



89 



Ground and Unground Feed 



Opinions differ as regards the ad- 

 vantages of grinding grain. For 

 horses which are subjected to long 

 hours of work, it is generally be- 

 lieved that all grains should be 

 ground, and for those at extremely 

 hard work the grain may be ground 

 and mixed with chaffed hay. If the 

 horses have comparatively long pe- 

 riods in which to consume their feed, 

 no advantage is to be obtained by 

 this practice. In other words, pro- 

 vided the animals have time to masti- 

 cate their ration thoroughly, grinding 

 is not necessary. When this is not 

 the case, grinding takes the place of 

 mastication to some extent, and in- 

 creases the digestibility of the ration. 



When whole oats were compared to 

 ground wheat and brain at the North 

 Dakota Station, the horses eating the 

 former ration ate somewhat more and 

 showed a slight loss in weight, while 

 doing a little less work than those 

 fed the gn'ound grain. At the Utah 

 Station, tests of the comparative 



Ab will be seen, the average for 

 the protein and energy In the rations 

 of the horses performing light work 

 are considerably less than similar 

 values for horses performing moder- 

 ate work. The rations for the truck 

 and draft horses performing severe 

 muscular work furnished less protein 

 and energy on an average than the 

 rations of the horses with moderate 

 work. This is not in accord with 

 commonly accepted theories, for it 

 Is generally conceded that horses at 

 severe work require larger rations 

 than those at moderate work. The 

 discrepancy may be explained in part 

 perhaps by the fact that the data for 



merits of ground and unground corn, 

 oats and wheat, fed under experi- 

 mental conditions, indicated that the 

 ground and unground grains were 

 equally satisfactory. When whole 

 and ground oats, corn and barley 

 were compared for feeding colts at 

 the Iowa Station, somewhat larger 

 gains were made on the ground feed. 



The comparative digestibility of 

 different ground and unground feed- 

 ing stuffs was tested at the Maryland 

 Station. It appeared from these tests 

 that ground corn and oats were more 

 thoroughly digested than the un- 

 ground grain. In this connection it 

 may be noted that similar results 

 have been obtained with other farm 

 animals, but it is commonly believed 

 that the difference is often not suffi- 

 cient to pay for the cost of grinding. 



From all American tests, and those 

 which have been made in Eu'-ope, It 

 appears fair to say that there is no 

 very marked advantage in grinding 

 grain for healthy horses with good 

 teeth. 



the group performing severe work Is 

 much less extended than that for the 

 group performing moderate work. 

 There is every reason to suppose that 

 the truck and draft horses received 

 rations sufficient for their needs, as 

 the firms owning them are known to 

 make an effort to maintain their 

 horses in good condition. Such truck 

 and draft horses are often employed 

 at work whia^is performed at a slow 

 pace, and 'im&oubtedly this has a 

 a bearing on the fact that they were 

 able to perform a large amount of 

 work on a comparatively small ra- 

 tion, as the speed at which the work 

 is performed has a marked effect 

 upon the food requirements. 



Water 



It Is generally held, at least in 

 practice, that any water that stock 

 can be induced to drink is sufficiently 

 pure for . their use. This practice 



occasions losses that would startle us 

 if statis-tics were at hand. Water that 

 is impure from the presence of de- 

 composing organic matter, such as is 



