366" FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



until it is all moistened. They can eat such food more read- 

 ily, and so fed it may have a more laxative effect with them. 

 It was believed at one time that meal moistened and even 

 fed as slop to dairy cows tended to increase the yields of 

 milk. It cannot be said that tests made to determine the 

 question sustain this belief. Corn is in some instances 

 soaked before feeding it both to cattle and swine. When 

 long fed on dry ear corn, soreness of the mouth may arise. 

 In such instances the corn should be shelled and soaked for 

 not less than 12 hours, except when the weather is unusu- 

 ally warm. Under normal conditions, the increase from 

 corn soaked 24 hours and fed to swine is much the same as 

 when dry. All the small cereal grains are made more easy 

 of digestion for swine by soaking them from 12 to 48 hours, 

 but usually the results are more satisfactory when they are 

 first ground before soaking them. When thus prepared, 

 there is practically no waste in feeding. None of the food 

 escapes, undigested, as when feeding it whole, and a larger 

 consumption of food is usually secured. 



From what has been said, it is apparent that when food 

 is soaked or moistened before feeding it to cattle and 

 horses, the objects sought are specific rather than general, 

 and that they are thus fed more because of the exigencies 

 present in the feeding than because of the more favorable 

 influence which, as such, they exercise on digestion. It is 

 different with swine. They digest more perfectly food thus 

 prepared. There are times, however, when almost any kind 

 of a cereal may be fed to swine unground in limited quan- 

 tities, as when fed to brood sows in winter on a hard sur- 

 face. 



Cooking *oo^. _or stock. Years ago the cooking of 

 food for live stock was thought to be helpful to its diges- 

 tion. Because of the prevalence of this view, large 

 steaming plants were erected in various centers where it 

 was proposed to steam practically all the dry food 

 fed to cattle before it was fed. Usually it was first run 

 through a cutting box and then mixed with meal, and fed 



