GRAINS AND SEEDS 169 



ence in the results. Frozen, slightly burned or charred, or 

 shrunken and damaged wheat is nearly as valuable for hog 

 feeding as the marketable grain. For sheep and lambs, 

 wheat is excellent during the early stages of fattening, but 

 corn is about 10 per cent more valuable during the latter 

 stages of fattening. It is excellent as a feed for show animals 

 on account of the firm flesh which it produces. Frozen or 

 otherwise damaged wheat often is fed to sheep. Wheat 

 need not be ground for sheep. 



For Breeding Stock. — Wheat is better than corn for breed- 

 ing stock, owing to the larger amount of bone- and muscle- 

 forming constitutents in it. Further, it is not so fattening 

 nor so heating as corn. However, wheat should not form 

 the sole ration of breeding animals. At the Wisconsin 

 Experiment Station, ^ heifers and cows which were fed on 

 wheat, wheat gluten, and wheat straw produced weak or 

 dead calves. The milk flow was decreased, and the cows 

 themselves were not normal. However, when alfalfa hay 

 replaced the wheat straw of the ration, the deficiencies of 

 the ration were overcome. 



For milk cows, ground wheat is fully equal or superior 

 to ground corn. It should be mixed with other concentrates, 

 including a nitrogenous concentrate. 



For work horses, wheat alone is unsatisfactory. Ground 

 and mixed with bran and oats, it forms a satisfactory ration. 



Oats. — Next to corn, oats are the most extensively 

 grown cereal in the United States. They are naturally 

 adapted to a cooler climate than corn, but they can be 

 grown successfully in a warmer climate provided the rain- 

 fall is sufficient. Thus they are grown over a large area. 

 1 Research Bui. 17. 



