246 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



thus gleaned, corn or some other carbonaceous food should 

 be fed along with the beans. 



To horses, soy beans have only been fed in a limited 

 way. But when corn is the principal grain fed, a consider- 

 able proportion of soy bean seed may be added. Some lo- 

 calities favor the growing of soy beans so much more than 

 others, that the wisdom of growing these as a source of 

 protein for any kind of feeding will be largely dependent 

 upon the cost of the same. 



The horse bean. The horse bean ( View, faba), though 

 much grown in Great Britain and also in the more moist and 

 temperate areas of continental Europe, has not succeeded 

 well when tried in the United States and Canada, except in 

 comparatively limited areas. These include certain areas in 

 proximity to the Great lakes, especially in th more north- 

 erly sections where the summers are reasonably moist and 

 cool, and also on the Pacific coast from Oregon to Alaska. 

 This plant is a great yielder of protein, hence it is to be re- 

 gretted that it does not succeed better where the summer 

 temperatures are warm. It furnishes food that is highly 

 prized for stock when fed in proper combinations. It is al- 

 ways fed in the form of meal to cattle except when fed as 

 ensilage, usually in the unground form to sheep, as meal or 

 cooked to swine, and unground, ground or boiled or 

 steamed to horses. 



For cattle this crop when ground furnishes excel- 

 lent food for young cattle when fed along with such ground 

 food as barley, rye or corn, the beans preponderating in the 

 ration. For beef cattle, 33 per cent or even less will usually 

 prove ample in the grain ration, but for dairy cows with or- 

 dinary fodders fully 50 per cent of the meal ration may con- 

 sist of bean meal. The best method by far, however, of 

 feeding it to dairy cows is in the form of silage which con- 

 sists of say one part by weight of the entire bean crop to 

 two parts of the entire corn crop. For sheep, what was said 

 of the common bean will also apply to the horse bean (see 

 p. 244). When fed to swine that are being fattened, 50 



