GREEN FORAGE AND HAY CROPS. 129 
43 per cent. Practical feeding experience and the results of chemi- 
cal analyses and digestion trials suggest that cereal straw ranks in. 
the following order as regards -feeding value: Oats, barley, wheat 
and rye straw. Straw is often used for feeding in the stack. On: 
grain farms where straw is abundant, only little stock is, as a rule, 
kept, and the straw, if utilized at all, is fed in the stack, or baled and 
shipped to be used for bedding. 
Cornstalks.—The straw of the Indian corn plant, known as: 
stover, cornstalks, or corn fodder, is an important rough feed on all 
American farms where corn is grown. It is either left standing in | 
the field where cattle nibble the leaves and tender parts during the 
fall and winter months, or it is cut and,cured in the field in shocks 
that are later brought in and usedja8 feed for cattle, sheep, and 
horses (Pp. 108). The cornstalks/ are now often run through a 
shredder in the same operation the shoek corn is being husked, 
and the shredded fodder is staged for use in the fall:and ‘winter. 
The shredded cornstalks maké\é fair quality of rough feed, which is 
generally eaten up.clean.b hse a ‘This is never the case- 
when whole cornstalks nd rarely so when they’ are cut 
before feeding. Shre r also makes a better stable ab- 
Corn stover, lik@j/straw of the small grains, makes a valuable 
feed for you , idle horses, or cattle, that are being car- 
winter, in fair condition until spring time. The 
Massachusetts ‘tation found, as the result of four years’ experi- 
ments,”* that nlederately thin yearling steers lost only 33 pounds 
per head when wintered on whole cornstalks alone. This feed will, 
therefore, furnish nearly a maintenance ration for such animals. 
In trials at the Nebraska station two-year-old steers fed one-half 
alfalfa hay and one-half cornstalks did nearly as well as those fed 
clear alfalfa hay, similar amounts of corn being fed in both cases. 
In one experiment lasting 168 days the average gains made were 
even slightly greater than when alfalfa was fed as the sole rough- 
age.° Trials at the New Hampshire station *’ show that cut corn 
stover may be considered a good substitute for timothy for winter 
feeding of horses when fed with concentrates. Other experiments 
have shown the value of cornstalks for feeding cows and sheep. It 
is evident, therefore, that cornstalks are well worth utilizing for 
feeding purposes to a far greater extent than has heretofore been the 
case, especially on farms in the corn belt. A proper appreciation 
of the value of cornstalks and grain straw for feeding live stock 
7% Bulletin 71. 7 Bulletins 90, 93, 100. Bulletin 82. 
9 
