HORSES AND MULES 



313 



the name of avenine. Careful chemical 

 analyses have failed to show the pres- 

 ence of avenine or any other peculiar 

 chemical body in oats, which is noL 

 found in other grains as well. Ap- 

 parently as good results are obtained in 

 spirit and action from other grains as 

 from oats. 



When oats become too expensive, they 

 may be replaced in the ration with 

 corn, barley, kafir corn, dried brewers' 

 grains, beans, peas, bran, cottonseed 

 meal, or even with highly nitrogenous 

 coarse fodders. In Maine it was found 

 that when mixed grains were compared 

 with oats the mixed grains proved more 

 effective for colts and cost less. In 

 another test oats produced less growth iu 

 colts than an equal weight of a mixture 

 of peas and middlings, the ratio being 

 100 to 111. When colts were fed a mix- 

 ture of middlings, gluten meal, and lin- 

 seed meal in the ratio of 60 :35 :15 and 

 hay, the daily ration cost 12 cents, and 

 14 cents when oats were substituted for 

 the mixed grains. The daily gains in 

 the colts were 1.3 pounds on mixed grains 

 and 2-3 pound on oats. In nearly ail 

 experiments greater gains have been se- 

 cured from mixed grains than with the 

 use of an exclusive oat ration. 



As suggested by Stewart, one of the 

 chief reasons for the general preference 

 of oats, rests upon the fact that approx- 

 imately one-half of the oat substance 

 consists of hulls. The hulls must be 

 eaten with the rest of the grain, and as a 

 consequence, the masticated mass is 

 comparatively loose and easily digested. 

 There is hence no grain which can be 

 fed ad libitum with such safety as oats. 

 Apparently the stomach of the horse can- 

 not hold enough oats at one time to cause 

 serious digestive troubles. No time or 

 energy need be spent in preparing oats, 

 since in all horses with good teeth, oats 

 are about equally digestible whether fed 

 whole, cracked, ground, steamed or in a 

 natural condition. In Utah it has been 

 found that bran and shorts may be sub- 

 stituted for oats. Usually a considerable 

 saving can be made by using bran or 

 shorts. In North Carolina, oats were 

 compared with cowpeas in rations of 4 

 pounds together with ground wheat, 

 corn and meadow hay. Both rations 

 were satisfactory in energy production, 

 but since the oats cost 2 cents per pound 

 and the cowpeas only 1 cent, it is evident 

 that the cowpeas are much more econom- 

 ical as a horse ration. 



In the same state it was found that 

 oat hay, cut in the milk stage was about 

 equal to clover or cowpea hay. The 

 Maryland experiment station compared 

 the digestibility of whole and ground 

 oats for horses. It appeared that the 

 horses did not relish an exclusive ration 

 of whole oats and lost weight consider- 

 ably. In order to keep the horses in good 

 appetite, it became necessary to add hay 

 to the ration. The oats were then fed 

 three times a day. Much diversity of 

 opinion prevails regarding the relative 

 value of whole, bruised, crushed and 

 ground oats. The test was, therefore, 

 made between whole and ground oats. 

 The results were slightly in favor of 

 ground oats. For old horses the ground 

 oats were more digestible, while for 

 young horses whole oats seemed the bet- 

 ter. This slight advantage of grinding, 

 however, will not be a paying proposi- 

 tion unless grinding can be done very 

 cheaply. Horses may be fed a ration of 

 10 to 16 or even 20 pounds a day. At 

 the usual price of oats it will produce 

 quite a saving to give a ration of 2-3 

 oats and 1-3 corn. Moreover, bran should 

 almost always be fed along with oats. 



Barley — As already indicated, barley 

 is an excellent horse feed. It is exten- 

 sively fed in various parts of the Orient, 

 Africa, Europe, California and other 

 western states. It is a very hard grain 

 and should be crushed or ground before 

 feeding. It is still better to boil or 

 steam barley and mix it with bran or a 

 little molasses. In horse rations, 4 

 pounds of barley equals 6 pounds of oats. 

 Boiled barley is perhaps the best pos- 

 sible grain for colts. It gives a most 

 rapid growth, great strength of bone and 

 muscle and a sleek coat. Barley may, 

 therefore, be used to replace oats in 

 horse rations under all circumstances. 

 This matter was tested in Germany on 

 two sets of horses of 60 each. 



One lot of the horses received 8 pounds 

 of oats and the other received the same 

 amount of barley. The effectiveness of 

 both rations seemed to be about the same. 

 As a result of this test it was concluded 

 that the best ration for horses contains 

 1-3 oats, 1-3 barley and 1-3 beans. In 

 substituting barley for oats, French in- 

 vestigators have found it desirable to 

 feed slightly more barley than would be 

 given in the oat ration. For the heavy 

 French draft horses, barley constitutes 

 about i/4 of the grain ration, while for 

 speed horses the proportion may be 

 much larger. In the French army, 



