226 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



Wheat, though a hardy grain, is not so hardy as rye, 

 nor can it be grown in so short a season as barley. The 

 macaroni varieties are among the largest yielding sorts and 

 have more of adaptation for being grown under hard and 

 dry conditions than other varieties. Vigorous and pro- 

 ductive varieties may frequently be grown with profit along 

 with oats or barley, or both, to provide food for stock. The 

 chief advantage from growing these grains thus consists in 

 the larger yields that are usually obtained. Wheat is of 

 two classes, winter and spring, and each has its own sphere 

 for most successful growth. Usually it ought to be fed in 

 the ground form except to sheep, otherwise a considerable 

 proportion of it will not be digested. Because of the sticky 

 and pasty character of the meal, the outcome of its high 

 gluten content, the aim should be to mix it with some coarse 

 substance as bran, when it constitutes the sole grain fed. 



For calves and growing cattle, wheat furnishes an ex- 

 cellent food, when the price will admit of its being so fed. 

 To the former it may be fed alone. The addition of oats, 

 however, to the extent of one-half the grain part of the ra- 

 tion, will improve it except in the case of calves during the 

 first two or three weeks after they begin to take meal. 



For beef cattle, ground wheat has been found about 

 equal pound for pound, to ground corn. When the two are 

 fed in conjunction, however, they make a better food than 

 either fed alone, especially when the wheat element prepon- 

 derates during the first part of the fattening period and the 

 corn element during the last. The bran present in ground 

 wheat exerts an influence more or less helpful in keeping 

 the bowels in tone. Some bran added, also oil meal, makes 

 it less sticky in character. 



For cows giving milk, wheat meal fed with suitable ad- 

 juncts has been found fully equal to corn meal. Mixed 

 grains, however, of which wheat meal is a part, will doubt- 

 less prove superior to wheat meal fed alone for prolonged 

 feeding. But for milk production, the by-products of wheat 

 are more suitable than wheat, as they contain a higher 



