318 



FARMER'S CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK 



meals. Horse bread, however, is us- 

 ually not prepared simply from a flour 

 or meal, but is mixed with other ma- 

 terials. A horse bread, which is ex- 

 tensively fed in Norway, is prepared 

 from skim milk and ground oats. The 

 bread was relished by the horses and did 

 not cause constipation, even when fed m 

 large quantities. It is lighter than oats 

 bulk for bulk and owing to its mechani- 

 cal condition, it is eaten up perfectly 

 clean. Horse bread made in a similar 

 manner has been endorsed by Swedish 

 authorities as a nutritious and palatable 

 horse feed, capable of entirely replacing 

 oats. 



Brewers' grains — The most extensive 

 work on brewers' grains for horses has 

 been done at the New Jersey experiment 

 station. This work was undertaken 

 partly to learn whether brewers' grains 

 could be used as a substitute for oats. 

 Since oats are frequently too expensive, 

 the importance of determining the avail- 

 ability of other materials in the place of 

 oats is sufficiently apparent. In the 

 experiments in question, brewers' grains 

 were fed dry to a large number of horses, 

 on the basis of a substitution for oats, 

 pound for pound. The material was 

 eaten with relish by the horses, except 

 in a very few cases. The horses varied 

 in age from six to 10 years, and the 

 brewers' grains were fed in rations of 

 8 pounds a day, as compared with the" 

 same quantity of oats for three months. 

 The oats appeared to be more satisfac- 

 tory than dried brewers' grains. In a 

 second feeding test the horse on brew- 

 ers' grains gained considerably more 

 than those on the oats ration. 



It appears from these experiments that 

 both dried brewers' grains and oats, when 

 fed in rations of 8 pounds together with 

 6 pounds of hay, 2 pounds of bran and 

 4 pounds of corn, furnished more nutri- 

 ment than was sufficient to maintain tho 

 weight of horses under an average 

 amount of work. On the whole, it seems 

 that dried brewers' grains are equally as 

 efficient as oats in a ration for work 

 horses. A careful study of the composi- 

 tion and digestibility of brewers' grains 

 showed that they furnish more valuable 

 digestible nutriment than oats. The 

 only practical question remaining for 

 the feeder, therefore, is whether it will 

 pay, under ordinary circumstances, to 

 substitute brewers' grains for oats. Dur- 

 ing the time of the experiment, bran cost 

 $22 per ton; corn $22; oats $30; and 



dried brewers' grains $18. On the oat 

 ration the cost per horse per day was 24 

 cents and on the ration of dried brewers' 

 grains 19 cents, thus showing a saving 

 of 5 cents a day in favor of the brewers' 

 grains. 



The cost of brewers' grains in carload 

 lots is about $16 in the summer and 

 $18 in the winter and spring months, 

 and the freightage need not be more than 

 $2 in excess of this sum On the basis 

 of the experiment just recorded, brewers' 

 grains, even at $24 per ton, would be 

 as cheap as oats at 36 cents per bushel, 

 and, as stated by Voorhees in his sum 

 mary of the experiment, an increase of 

 $1 per ton on the brewers' grains would 

 be balanced by an increase of IV2 cents 

 per bushel for oats. If the farmer is lo- 

 cated conveniently to a brewery, the 

 grains may be purchased wet and fed in 

 that condition. Wet brewers' grains, 

 however, are not as desirable for horses 

 as for milch cows. As a rule, 4 pounds 

 of wet brewers' grains are equal to 1 

 pound after drying. 



Distillery dried grains — The Indiana 

 experiment station carried on an ex- 

 periment with distillery dried grains, 

 known as "Biles Fourex," with a manu- 

 facturer's guarantee of 33 per cent pro- 

 tein. They were tested on four mares 

 of medium size on the station farm, 

 maintained at work of varied severity. 

 One team received dried distillery grains 

 for four weeks and at the end of this 

 period the other team was given the 

 grains and oats were substituted in the 

 ration of the first team. Two of the mares 

 did not eat the grain with relish at any 

 part of the experiment, and on some days 

 absolutely refused to eat it at all; the 

 other two ate the distillery grains with 

 less aversion, but only in moderate 

 amounts. The two animals which evi- 

 dently did not like the distillery grains 

 ate not more than 10 pounds a week, 

 while the other two consumed from 42 

 to 50 pounds per week. As a result of 

 this experiment, it is obvious that dried 

 distillery grains do not furnish a satis- 

 factory addition to the list of concen- 

 trated feeds for horses. 



Linseed meal — Linseed meal may be 

 fed to horses to the extent of 4 pounds 

 per day without any injurious effects. 

 In New Hampshire, it was found that a 

 ration containing 4 pounds of linseed 

 meal, together with 10 pounds of hay and 

 8 pounds of corn was of great effective- 

 ness. As a ride, however, horses will not 



