504 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nor. 



subject will examine it in the light of a 

 few plain and well known physiological laws, 

 they will see at once, without the trouble of 

 experimenting, its real merits. 



Simply passing hay through a cutter adds 

 nothing to it ; pouring on water and mixing 

 meal with it, and feeding out immediately, ex- 

 tracts nothing from it. In this form of cut 

 feed it is eaten or rather swallowed quicker. 

 Here is a saving of time, and this is as far as 

 some reason. They look upon eating as a 

 task, and he who does it in the quickest time, 

 whether man or horse, is the best fellow. But 

 let us carry our inquiries a little further. Is 

 this hastily eaten food in a better state for di- 

 gestion than if it was eaten dry ? The first 

 step towards easy and rapid digestion, is thor- 

 ough mastication. With grain, hay, or any 

 dry fodder, — substances difficult of digestion, 

 — it is highly important that this preparatory 

 process should be perfect, that these materials 

 may be acted upon by the full power of the 

 saliva and the gastric juice. This is done when 

 they are fed dry, and the animal chews slowly ; 

 the prolonged chewing excites a copious How 

 of saliva, which moistens and softens the food 

 by the time it is made fine enough ibr swallow- 

 ing. Then, if the gastric juice is not diluted 

 and cooled by drinking a large quantity of cold 

 water, just before or after eating, it will at 

 once have the full benefit of that powerful sol- 

 vent. 



The rapidity with which an animal swallows 

 depends upon the moist and smooth condition 

 of the food, rather than its fineness. Meal is 

 fine enough for swallowing, but it cannot be 

 swallowed dry. A horse must continue to 

 grind it until it is saturated with saliva. Yet 

 mix it with sufficient water and he will drink 

 it. As far as the act of swallowing is con- 

 cerned, it makes little difference whether the 

 food is moistened with saliva or water. There- 

 fore every (juart of water put upon the food 

 tends directly to prevent fine chewing, a free 

 flow of saliva, and the immediate action of 

 gastric juice ; and hastily eaten cut feed must 

 require a longer time for digestion, or pass 

 through the system imperfectly digested. For 

 want of thorough preparation, by mastication, 

 the stomach and intestines have a double task 

 to perform, or there is a notable loss of food. 

 Let every one judge for himself, which is best 

 for his horse, a full allowance bolted down, or 

 a scanty one thoroughly masticated. Said an 

 old horseman to me, recently, "Two quarts of 

 grain fed dry, will do more good than three 

 quarts when saturated with water." Old hay 

 and oats fed dry is the standard diet in Eng- 

 land for horses kept for speed. Meal is read- 

 ily eaten dry, if hay is in the manger at the 

 same time. Some experienced feeders pour 

 the grain over a portion of the hay. It is nat- 

 ural for horses to eat a considerable portion of 

 their time, and the pleasure of eating lies in 

 masticating. Why not let them enjoy all there 

 is of pleasure in slowly chewing good sweet 



hay and grain ? Cut feed, which they eat so 

 quickly, does not satisfy them ; when fed on it 

 for a long time, they show their dissatisfaction 

 by biting and gnawing their mangers, eating 

 their bedding, and not unfrequently become 

 inveterate cribbers. 



One of the principal arguments in favor of 

 cut feed, is, that coarse, dusty and poor hay 

 and fodder will be eaten which otherwise might 

 be rejected. In some markets and uf>on many 

 farms, grain is cheaper than first quality hay ; 

 consequently poor hay or straw is used with a 

 large quantity of grain. Under such circum- 

 stances cut feed has become a common mode 

 of feeding. Sometimes sufficient grain is 

 given for the support of the animal, while the 

 poor fodder is added merely to give bulk to 

 the food and preserve health. In another sys- 

 tem less grain and more of this poor fodder is 

 used, under the belief that whatever is eaten 

 must atibrd nourishment. Straw and poor hay 

 are harder of digestion than good hay ; con- 

 sequently there is greater necessity for thor- 

 ough mastication when they are fed. . Animals 

 fed chiefiy on grain, or confined exclusively to 

 one quality of hay, and that a poor one, will 

 eat that poor stuff dry as freely as is for their 

 good ; and it is poor economy to force them 

 to eat large (juantities of what is difficult of 

 digestion, and deficient in nutriment. 



Again, it is said in favor of cut feed that the 

 water absorbs and lays all dust that may be in 

 the fodder. This is true, and it is also true 

 that the dust and dirt thus absorbed is eaten. 

 Would it not be better to remove the dust by 

 shaking the hay lightly in a current of air ? 



These objections to cut-feed are not so seri- 

 ous with ruminants as with horses. Their 

 more complicated and p>owerful digestive or- 

 ganism extracts nutriment from what would do 

 horses little or no good. In the act of chew- 

 ing the cud, they can recover in a measure the 

 loss from too rapid eating. There is, undoubt- 

 edly, a gain in cutting corn fodder for them, 

 even when it is fed dry, but all kinds of stock 

 prefer hay, if eaten dry, its natural length; 

 when cut into short lengths the numerous 

 sharp ends irritate and prick the mouth. 



Steaming and Cooking 

 Produces a radical change in food, which 

 fiicilitates digestion and assimilation. Some 

 men have confidently asserted that the time 

 would soon come when it will be considered 

 economical to steam or cook all the winter 

 food of all kinds of stock. The present state 

 of agriculture will hardly make such a vast 

 amount of cooking advisable. Still the very 

 young, the old, the sick, and those designed 

 for the butcher, claim some indulgence or ex- 

 tra care. For them something resembling 

 cooking is practicable. It is a sad mistake to 

 turn oil' joung stock upon the coarsest and 

 toughest kinds of fodder, while their digestive 

 organs are weak and immature. An old horse 

 or cow whose grinders fail prematurely may 



