25 



and cut timothy or whole and cut alfalfa and clover hay mixed in a 

 test carried on at the Utah Station. 



At the Maryland Station, in studies of the digestibility of a number 

 of whole and ground feeds, it was found that grinding corn shives — 

 i. e., cornstalks from which the blades, husks, and pith are removed — 

 until the material resembled coarse bran did not destroy its value as a 

 coarse fodder, and that the finely ground material supplied the neces- 

 sary bulk to the ration as well as the same material unground. It 

 was further claimed that the finely ground coarse fodder possessed an 

 advantage over the unground material in that it could be mixed with 

 grain to form a well-balanced ration and fed to horses on shipboard, 

 or under similar conditions, more readily than unground fodder and 

 grain. 



FATTENING HORSES FOR MARKET. 



Fattening horses so that they will reach market in good condition 

 for sale is quite an important industry in some regions. For instance, 

 in Iowa there are a number of feeders who thus prepare large num- 

 bers of horses for the Chicago market, and ofiicials of the Iowa 

 Experiment Station have gathered some data on the subject. The 

 general practice is to feed generously and give little exercise. With 

 proper feeding and care, as many as a dozen horses of a lot fed for 

 market have in some instances made an average gain of 3. 75 pounds 

 per head per day throughout a period of ninety days. Somewhat 

 larger gains have been made under exceptional circumstances. 



WATERING HORSES. 



A discussion of the subject of watering horses should take into 

 account th& reasons why water is needed, the amounts required, the 

 proper time for watering, and related topics. 



Horses, like other animals, require water, which should always be of 

 good quality, for moistening their food, so that the digestive juices may 

 permeate it readily, for diluting the blood and other fluids of the body, 

 and for other physiological uses. It may be assumed that under any 

 given normal condition the body contains a definite amount of water. 

 When any considerable amount of water is lost from the body, a 

 sensation of thirst is experienced, showing that more water is needed 

 to take its place. Practically all the water excreted leaves the body 

 in the feces, urine, perspiration, and breath. The amount eliminated 

 in each increases with the amount of water consumed, the largest 

 amount being excreted in the feces. 



In addition to the water drunk by horses, a considerable amount is 

 obtained in the more or less succulent food eaten. The amount of 

 water required is influenced by a number of factors, including the 



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