The green crops, hay, straw, other cured crops, and silage are fre- 

 quently called "coarse fodder" or "roughage." This term is due to 

 the fact that they contain a comparatively small amount of nutritive 

 material and a high proportion of crude fiber as compared with their 

 total bulk. Although inferior to concentrated feeds in composition, 

 they are an essential part of the ration of horses and other farm ani- 

 mals, serving to give the required bulk to the food and being useful 

 in other ways. 



It is believed that unless the food, when taken into the stomach, is 

 comparatively bulky and the mass is more or less loose in structure, 

 it is not readily acted on by the digestive juices. The intestinal tract 

 of the horse is long in proportion to the size of the animal, and food 

 remains in it for several days. Experiments indicate that crude fiber, 

 which is only slightly digestible by man, is quite thoroughly digested 

 by horses, and even more thoroughly digested by ruminants, owing its 

 digestibility to the fact that it is fermented for a comparatively long 

 period by micro-organisms in the intestines. 



A number of experiments have been made to learn the comparative 

 value for horses of different forage crops, fresh and cured, the Ameri- 

 can experiment stations naturally having given their attention to the 

 coarse fodders of most importance in this country. 



The Virginia Station reported a number of trials on the value of 

 corn silage for horses and mules. Gradually increasing amounts were 

 fed until they were given all they could eat, with hay and grain in 

 addition. The tests indicated that silage is a satisfactory feed pro- 

 vided the animals are gradually accustomed to it. The New Hamp- 

 shire Station, in connection with a study of the value of different grain 

 mixtures for work horses, compared the relative merits of timothy hay 

 and corn stover, the two sorts of fodder being found equally valuable 

 under the experimental conditions. From the work of the Oklahoma 

 Station, Kafir-corn- stover is said to have a feeding value about equal 

 to corn stover. Running the stalks through a thrashing machine is 

 considered a satisfactory method of preparing this feeding stuff. 



The value of oat straw, prairie hay, and brome grass was shown 

 by the work of the North Dakota Station, the brome grass giving as 

 good results when fed to work horses as timothy hay. When Ber- 

 muda grass hay and timothy hay were compared at the Mississippi 

 Station no marked differences in the cost of the rations nor in the gains 

 made by mules were observed. 



The results of extended series of experiments at the Utah Station 

 have been very favorable to the use of alfalfa hay as a coarse fodder 

 for horses. The fact is recognized that, like other leguminous crops, 

 it contains a larger amount of protein in proportion to its bulk than 

 timothy. Feeding alfalfa did not exercise any bad effects on the health 

 25352— No. 170—03 2 



170 



