170 DESCRIPTION OF FEEDING STUFFS / 
Rye makes a valuable feed for horses and fattening swine; it is 
often fed soaked to the latter farm animals, and is preferably fed 
ground and mixed with other concentrates to other classes of live- 
stock. Rye was found to have about the same feeding value as barley 
in extensive Danish swine-feeding experiments, and the quality of 
the pork produced was satisfactory. The best results were, how- 
ever, obtained with mixtures of the two cereals. 
Wheat is too high-priced, as a general rule, to be used for feed- 
ing farm animals. In exceptional cases it may be advisable to use 
it for this purpose, however, and it is well, therefore, to understand 
its nutritive value and main characteristics, especially since the 
lower grades of wheat can generally be used for stock feeding to 
advantage, even at present-day market prices for grains. 
Wheat stands close to barley in composition and feeding value. 
It is of slightly lower value as a feed for fattening animals, but 
is superior to this cereal in nutritive effect for young and growing 
animals and for dairy cows. It is lower in fat but somewhat higher 
in protein and carbohydrates than corn; its digestibility is as high 
as that of the other cereals except oats, which, as stated, have a 
somewhat lower digestibility than these on account of their rela- 
tively high fiber content. , 
Wheat is generally ground before feeding. On account of its 
large content of gliadin and glutenin, it forms a sticky paste when 
chewed, and for this reason is preferably fed in mixtures with more 
bulky concentrates, like oats or wheat bran. 
Damaged wheat (salvage wheat from elevator fires, etc.) is at 
times obtainable at a low cost; the better grades make a valuable 
feed, only slightly inferior to an average grade of wheat. 
Grain screenings are mixtures of broken or shrunken grain, 
weed seeds, chaff, pieces of straw, dirt, etc., which are obtained in 
the cleaning of grain in elevators. They vary considerably in their 
chemical composition and feeding value, according to their origin 
and the character of the impurities contained in the grain. On 
account of the large proportion of different weed seeds in screenings, 
they are expensive feeds at any price to farmers who wish to keep 
their land as free as possible from noxious weeds. Many of the 
weed seeds in screenings will pass through the animals uninjured 
and will germinate when the manure is put on the land,’ thus 
rendering cultivation more expensive and reducing the yield of 
cultivated crops through the growth of weeds. Many farmers do 
not, therefore, wish to buy screenings under any condition, and this 
7™Vermont Bulletins 131 and 138, 
