FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



Wheat straw when bright and good may, under certain 

 conditions, form a very considerable proportion of the diet 

 of cattle, sheep and horses in winter, but cattle and sheep 

 that are being fattened, cows in milk and working horses 

 should not be required to consume it in large quantities, 

 owing to its low protein content, its relatively low digesti- 

 bility and its want of palatability. 



Barley straw is somewhat more valuable than wheat 

 straw. It is eaten with more relish than the former. 

 Nevertheless, what has been said of wheat straw will apply 

 in a considerable degree to barley straw. Both barley and 

 wheat straw may be made to form a considerable part of 

 the fodder fed along with heavy grain feeding. 



Oat straw is in nearly all respects more valuable than 

 wheat and barley straw. In fattening cattle and sheep, and 

 in feeding milch cows, also working horses, it may fre- 

 quently furnish half the fodder ration, and in wintering 

 store stock it may furnish the sole fodder ration. When 

 bright and clean it is eaten with a relish, and when available 

 may be fed so as to economize in the feeding of more ex- 

 pensive hay. 



Flax straw has considerable feeding value as the analy- 

 sis shows. Live stock are fond of it and will eat it in 

 considerable quantities when well cured. The sfnall grains 

 which are blown out into the chaff increase its feeding val- 

 ue. Flax straw like the grain, though to a much less ex- 

 tent, tends to relax the bowels. The objection has been 

 raised to flax straw that because of the toughness of its 

 fibre, it tends to disturb digestion by forming indigestible 

 masses of the nature of impact substances, but the facts do 

 not sustain the objection. The feeding of flax straw does 

 away with the objection to burying it in the soil because of 

 its slow decay in climates with insufficient rainfall. 



Pea straw, when of fine growth and properly harvested 

 and cured, ranks almost as high for feeding as clover hay, 

 but in moist climates it is frequently injured in the curing, 

 as it is easily damaged by rain. Exposure to two or three 



