324 



FARMER'S CYCLOPEDIA OF LITE STOCK 



As a rule it is best to begin witb small 

 rations until tbe palatability and whole- 

 someness of the feed are thoroughly es 

 tablished. Silage makes a good coarse 

 forage for horses, when used in connec- 

 tion with hay, corn stover, or grain. Af- 

 ter horses have gradually been accus- 

 tomed to silage, they may be fed all they 

 will eat, but the amount is always 

 smaller than that consumed by cattle. 



In North Carolina, corn silage, when 

 fed in rations of 30 pounds per day, as 

 compared with 15 pounds of oat hay, was 

 found to produce a saving of 4y 2 cents 

 daily in the ration. When the same 

 amount of silage was compared with 15 

 pounds of cowpea hay, good results were 

 also obtained. It was found possible to 

 prepare suitable rations for horses, con- 

 taining from 20 to 30 pounds of silage, 

 with ear corn, shelled corn or corn and 

 cob meal, with or without the addition of 

 bran, dried blood or other nitrogenous 

 grains. Similar favorable results were 

 obtained with mules, and it is concluded 

 from the experiments in North Carolina, 

 that, all things considered, the addition 

 of corn silage to a ration improves it. 



Corn stover was carefully tested at the 

 New Hampshire experiment station in 

 comparison with a high grade of timothy 

 hay. The corn stover was first run 

 through a silage cutter, after which it 

 was given in rations of from 6 to 12 

 pounds. The corn stover proved to be of 

 equal value to timothy hay and was ob- 

 tained at about one-third of the cost. 

 There was a slight margin in favor of 

 corn stover, when compared with timo- 

 thy hay in tests in which two kinds of 

 grain rations were used. Considering the 

 fact that from 3 to 5 tons of dry matter 

 can be produced per acre in the form of 

 corn stover and only about two tons in 

 the form of timothy hay, the great econ- 

 omy in using corn stover is apparent. 

 During the winter season, when the 

 work is light, corn stover may be util- 

 ized as the only roughage and a great 

 saving thereby effected. 



New corn product j s the term used for 

 the ground stalks and leaves of the corn 

 plant minus the pith. This material is 

 also called corn shives. A test was made 

 of the new corn product at the Mary- 

 land station. The new corn product, 

 with ground oats, was compared with 

 timothy hay and the same grain ration, 

 the horses being fed for two weeks dur- 

 ing the first test. During a fourteen- 

 day period, the horses on timothy hay 



consumed 118 pounds of timothy and 106 

 pounds of ground oats. During the same 

 period, the other horses consumed 95 

 pounds of new corn product and 90 

 pounds of oats. It appears from the 

 records of this test that the only diffi- 

 culty experienced in feeding the new 

 corn product was in the case of two 

 horses, which did not at first take kindly 

 to this forage. They soon, however, 

 learned to relish it and gradually became 

 accustomed to mixed feed. The horses 

 ate the mixture of ground oats and new 

 corn product continuously for five 

 months and relished it more keenly at 

 the end of this period than at the be- 

 ginning. 



Cowpea hay— At the North Carolina 

 experiment station cowpea hay has been 

 compared with bran in rations for horses, 

 both the bran and cowpea hay being fed 

 to the extent of 10 pounds per day, to- 

 gether with corn and cob meal, gluten 

 meal and corn stover. The cost of the ra- 

 tion was diminished 5 cents per day for 

 each horse by the substitution of cowpea 

 hay for bran ; and the hay appeared to be 

 equal in feeding value to the bran. Since 

 cowpea hay may be easily grown through 

 out the southern states and since it has 

 the effect of improving the fertility of 

 the soil, like other legumes, it is ob- 

 viously desirable to use this home-grown 

 protein whenever possible, in place of tht> 

 much more expensive bran. Further 

 tests of cowpea hay in North Carolina 

 showed that a suitable ration may be 

 compounded for horses and mules by us- 

 ing 15 pounds corn and cob meal, l x /2 

 pounds cottonseed meal and 10 pounds 

 of cowpea hay per day. The cost of this 

 ration was only lO 1 /^ cents daily. 



Grama grass is one of the native 

 grasses, which grows abundantly over 

 large areas of the western ranges and 

 frequently passes under the name of 

 buffalo grass. In fact, in Montana, Wy- 

 oming, Idaho and elsewhere, grama grass 

 is the most common species referred 

 to as buffalo grass. Horses are very fond 

 of this material, either in the green state 

 or when standing in the cured form, on 

 the range in winter. At the Oklahoma 

 station it has been found that when the 

 seed is affected by smut, this grass may 

 be dangerous or even fatal to horses. In 

 the case in question, however, the grass 

 was so badly affected with smut that 

 after rains the stems of the grass were 

 entirely covered with black spores. 



