27O FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



fed as a mash with a view probably to render it more laxa- 

 tive. In other instances it is not fed at all. A small quan- 

 tity fed daily exercises a salutary influence on the digestion 

 of horses of all classes when on dry feed and not worked 

 severely, including weanling foals, yard horses, brood 

 mares, stallions and horses at moderate work. It is too laxa- 

 tive and not sufficiently nutritive for horses that are worked 

 severely, but in some instances they have been worked some- 

 what severely for a considerable period on bran as the sole 

 concentrate. 



Bran is rather preferred to middlings when feeding an- 

 imals that are being fattened, whether cattle or sheep, as it 

 makes a more desirable blend with fine meals as corn and 

 cottonseed meal and is less pasty when being masticated. 

 Bran and shorts have been found about equal for milk pro- 

 duction when fed to cows, but as a food for swine, bran is 

 far below middlings. Bran is not quite equal to oats pound 

 for pound for producing milk, or to a mixture of ground 

 oats and barley, but the difference is slight. Swine fed 

 chiefly on bran will not thrive so well nor keep healthy so 

 long as swine fed chiefly on ground barley or rye. It should 

 not be much used in fattening cattle when the relative value 

 per pound is more than one-half that of oil meal and kindred 

 feeds. Bran, when fed daily to horses, is commonly fed dry, 

 but when fed occasionally, as mash. It is also fed in the dry 

 form to cattle and sheep but is soaked before being fed to 

 swine. 



Middlings and shorts are so nearly alike in their com- 

 position and feeding qualities, notwithstanding some differ- 

 ences, that it will be in order to discuss them together. 

 They have more starchy matter and less crude fibre than 

 bran and are therefore better adapted relatively to animals 

 whose digestive capacity unfits them for taking large quan- 

 tities of bulky food. Although it is considerably more con- 

 centrated than bran, it is no richer in protein and is even 

 less rich in mineral matter. Middlings have never stood so 

 high relatively for feeding cattle and sheep as bran, but they 



