Maize stover in some form or other is one of the most abundant foods 

 in the United States for all kinds of farm animals. In some localities 

 it almost excludes other forms of coarse feed, such as timothy hay, 

 clover, etc. 



PREPARATION OF MAIZE FODDER. 



As has before been intimated, this fodder is often fed in the coarse 

 state without any preparation whatever. In this condition a very large 

 percentage of it is wasted, the cattle eating little except the blades, 

 and perhaps some of the smaller and tenderer parts of the stalk. In 

 the older parts of the country it is now becoming quite general to 

 have the maize stover finely shredded before being fed. This not only 

 increases the quantity which becomes available for feed, but also leaves 

 the manure in a much better condition for spreading on the field. 



SEPARATION OF THE PITH FROM THE FIBER. 



The pith of the stalks, as will be seen further on, has valuable 

 properties aside from its digestibility as a feed. In the separation of 

 the pith, the outer portion of the stalk remains, and it has been found to 

 be largely increased in value for cattle food by the separation of the 

 pith. 



Extensive experiments have been made in feeding cattle with this 

 material, by the agricultural experiment station of Maryland and by 

 the Geneva station of New York. The composition of the outer shell 

 of the stalk when finely ground and subjected to analysis has been 

 found at the Maryland station to be the following : 



Per cent. 



Moisture 9. 22 



Proteids 6. 38 



Ether extract 2. 84 



Crude fiber 28. 70 



Experiments were made in testing the comparative digestibility of 

 the finely ground outer shell of the maize stalk in comparison with the 

 coarsely shredded whole stover. The percentages of the materials 

 digestible in these two products were found to be as follows : 



Digestibility of ground and shredded stalks. 



Ash 



Carbohydrates- 

 fiber .. 



Per cent. 



4.00 



other than crude 



. 48.86 



