314 



FARMER'S CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK 



barley is substituted pound for pound 

 for oats. The regulations of the Ger- 

 man army prescribe that barley may be 

 used to replace oats for indefinite pe- 

 riods to the extent of 1-3 to 1-2, or all 

 of the usual oat ration. In general, 

 barley is substituted pound for pound 

 for oats. In North Dakota, barley was 

 found not quite equal to oats. Malted 

 barley appeared to be inferior to whole 

 barley. According to the extensive ex- 

 periments of Lavalard, barley may en- 

 tirely replace oats in the ration of all 

 kinds of horses, whether used for driv- 

 ing or draft purposes. Apparently, how- 

 ever, it is necessary to give the barley 

 in slightly larger rations. 



Corn — As already stated, corn may be 

 substituted for oats in part or even en- 

 tirely. It is used in this way at present 

 to a large extent throughout the corn belt 

 and especially in the southern states. 

 In Germany and various other European 

 countries it has been found that corn 

 may be used in the place of oats without 

 injury to health. Old horses are some- 

 times not able to eat corn without pre- 

 vious grinding. In Germany a mixture 

 has been recommended containing 50 

 per cent cracked corn, 15 to 20 per cent 

 cracked beans, 10 to 20 per cent bran, 

 and 10 to 15 per cent malt dust. The 

 daily ration then consists of 10 to 15 

 pounds of this mixture. In England, ten 

 street car companies have adopted a ra- 

 tion, consisting of about 9 pounds corn, 5 

 pounds oats, 2 pounds beans and peas, 

 1-3 pound bran. In Leipsic a generally 

 adopted ration for horses contains 11 

 pounds corn and 3 pounds oats. Blin in 

 his experiments with corn found it to be 

 inferior to oats. Corn is especially suited 

 for the production of energy in work 

 horses. Kloepfer substituted 5 pounds 

 of corn for 6 pounds of oats in rations 

 for farm horses. As a result of his ex- 

 periments he recommends that oats be 

 fed during the day and corn in the even- 

 ing, after being soaked for 24 hours. 



For many years Lavalard conducted 

 experiments in feeding horses for the 

 Paris omnibus company, particularly 

 with reference to the grains which may 

 be economically substituted for oats. 

 The first tests with corn were under- 

 taken with all kinds of horses and gave 

 most satisfactory results. The total 

 number of horses involved in these ex- 

 periments was about 30,000, so that the 

 results are of unusual value. By replac- 

 ing a part of the oats with corn one com- 

 pany using 16,000 horses effected a sav- 



ing of more than $250,000 a year, thus 

 showing the great economy of corn feed- 

 ing. Recent experiments with cavalry 

 and artillery horses have shown that corn 

 may generally replace oats without in 

 any way causing the horses to deterio- 

 rate. The horses fed the corn ration 

 were worked the same number of hours 

 in the military drill and in the maneu- 

 vers and were ridden at the same gait 

 as those fed exclusively on oats. It was 

 impossible to notice any difference in 

 the condition of the two lots of horses. 



Again, oats contain on an average 70 

 to 75 per cent of kernel and 25 to 30 per 

 cent of indigestible hulls, while the hull 

 of corn amounts to practically nothing. 

 According to Lavalard these facts fur- 

 nish an explanation why horses on corn 

 thrive better and are more able to main- 

 tain their weight, than on oats. 

 Lavalard's experiments demonstrated 

 that corn may be used to replace oats in 

 the ration for both cavalry and artillery 

 horses. In fact, if substituted pound 

 for pound it increases the nutritive value 

 of the ration. From an economic stand- 

 point this is ample justification for the 

 practice of feeding corn. 



In Utah, a feeding experiment was car- 

 ried out on two teams of horses, one of 

 which was fed corn and timothy and the 

 other clover, oats and wheat. The corn 

 and timothy lot made the poorer show- 

 ing, as was to be expected from the fact 

 that the ration was very poorly balanced. 

 In a subsequent experiment, in which 

 both rations contained wheat and bran, 

 corn and oats were fed for the purpose of 

 a direct comparison. The horses on 

 corn made the greatest gains on the 

 same amount of work. As a result of ex- 

 periments continued along this line for 

 three years, Mills concludes that during 

 the summer, corn and timothy are not 

 as good as oats, clover and wheat; that 

 in winter the corn and timothy ra- 

 tion is as good as the other; and that 

 during spring and summer, corn, wheat 

 or bran will produce more gain than 

 oats, wheat or bran. 



In North Dakota, oats were compared 

 with corn for mules. The corn was 

 fed on the cob and the test lasted 84 

 days. The corn was greatly relished and 

 it was noticed that on a ration of corn 

 and oats less grain was needed than on 

 an exclusive oat ration. Stated in an- 

 other form, 88.5 pounds of the mixture 

 of corn and oats equaled 100 pounds of 

 oats unmixed. From a computation of 

 these results it is concluded that 77.5 



