350 



PRODUCTIVE FEEDING OF FARM ANIMALS 



unpalatable, two or three feedings of greens per day are better than 

 one, where it can be done. In winter when fresh, growing greens 

 cannot be had, one has to fall back on sprouted grains, mangels, 

 pumpkins, cabbage, potatoes, and steamed alfalfa or clover hay, for 

 the supply of succulent vegetable feeds. They are named in the 

 order of their preference. Sprouted grains although equal to other 



fresh tender greens are only 

 used when fresh green stuff 

 from the fields is not to be had, 

 because of the labor of sprout- 

 ing. 



Sprouted oats or barley are 

 among the best winter green 

 feeds. They are fully equal in 

 succulence and tonic value to 

 the tender green stuff of sum- 

 mer. Oats are better to sprout 

 than barley because they do 

 not make such a rank growth. 

 These grains are sprouted by a 

 great many commercial poultry- 

 men for feeding early hatched 

 chicks as well as grown stock. 

 The grains are usually 

 sprouted in racks about six feet 

 high containing trays two by 

 three feet in size and two inches 

 deep. The trays are spaced 

 about ten inches apart, seven in 

 a tier so that there will be one 

 tray ready to use each day ( Fig. 

 103) . In starting, a pail of the 

 right size is nearly filled with 

 oats at night and the oats 

 covered with luke-warm water. 



Fig. 103. — Rack for sprouting oats; large 

 enough to provide five hundred laying hens 

 with a continuous supply of succulent food. 

 (Lewis.) 



The next morning they are dumped in a pile on the top tray and 

 left. At night they are spread out so that the tray is level full of 

 wet oats to a depth of one inch and another pail of oats put to soak. 

 Next morning the top tray of oats is moved down a tray and the other 

 tray put on top to receive the oats from the pail. The trays of oats 

 are thus moved down one step at a time till by the seventh day the 



