704 MAIZE 



CHAP, months, to those animals which are kept on the High-veld 

 XIV - pastures (f 687). 



The Illinois Station found it profitable to feed maize to pigs 

 running on pasture (11 688). 



660. Feeding Maize on the Cob. — Where labour is scarce 

 and high-priced, and maize is cheap, it is found economical to 

 feed the grain on the ear without husking it. The simplest 

 way is to use maize direct from the shock, throwing the long 

 stalks, with the ears attached, into the mangers. The cows 

 first pick out the ears, and after eating these finish off the leaves 

 and then the stalks. 



" By supplying maize on the stalk for the evening feed so 

 as to allow the cows a long period for working them over, all 

 will be consumed before morning except some of the coarser 

 portions of the stalks, thus reducing the labour of removing 

 the waste. Dairymen generally prefer, however, to run their 

 shock maize through the feed-cutter or shredder, which leaves 

 the material in a form relished by the cow and easily handled ; 

 the broken ears of maize are then easily masticated, the cobs 

 also being consumed" {Henry, 1). 



But in feeding in this way care should be taken to obtain 

 a fairly close estimate of the proportion of grain to roughage. 

 By selecting an average shock, husking out the ears, and as- 

 certaining how much shelled grain it carries, the amount which 

 should be fed can be determined. 



Although the maize cob (i.e. after the grain is shelled) con- 

 sists largely of crude fibre, and therefore has a low feeding 

 value, it can be used to advantage for stock-feed under certain 

 conditions. If the grain has not fully ripened, the cob is less 

 hard and woody, and contains more nutriment, and such cobs 

 are readily eaten by cattle, provided no deleterious fermentation 

 or fungous growth has developed. As a result of experience 

 and observation, many cattle feeders find it advantageous to 

 use this otherwise waste product by feeding the whole ear, i.e. 

 cob and grain together {Henry, 1). 



"The practice, common in the Corn-belt, of supplying 

 unhusked or unground maize to steers has developed the 

 feeling among eastern feeders that the method is wasteful, and 

 could be immensely improved by grinding the grain." Henry 

 combats this idea : " No one," he says, " can study the western 



