•m 



238 



CORN CROPS 



Shredding fodder 



167. Zintheo makes the following statement : ^ " Be- 

 tween 1880 and 1890, a great deal of attention was given 

 to threshing corn. This practice so battered the stalk as 

 to make every part of it available as a cattle food. Fodder 

 cutters had been in use for many years yet this method of 

 preparing corn fodder left the fibrous part of the stalk in 

 a tough woody condition which cattle did not relish. The 

 bruising and shredding action of the thresher put the 

 stalk in a more palatable form. The repeated shortages 

 and failures of the hay crop during the decade 1880-1890, 



Fig. 81. 



- Coiiibiiied shredder and busker. 



together with the results of attempts at threshing corn, 

 led to the invention of the combined busker and shredder, 

 which takes the stalks with the ears on them and prepares 

 the stalks for feeding." 



Shredding fodder is generally considered as an economic 

 waj^ of preparing corn fodder for feed. In humid climates 

 there is sometimes trouble with the shredded fodder heat- 

 ing when piled in large quantities, unless care is taken to 

 shred only fodder in a fairly dry condition. 



1 U. S. Dept. Agr., Office Exp. Sta., Bui. 173: 40. 



