FODDER IN INDIA. 



Stances they should never be given more than a. }( oi 

 their fodder rati^on of bhoosa, otherwise an attack of coHc 

 more or less severe will inevitably follow. The two main 

 classes of bhoosa are (?) white bhoosa made from wheat, 

 barley, rye and oat-straw, [ii) missa bhoosa made from the 

 leaves and stalks of gram and the leaves of arhar, orrud, 

 mung, etc. This variety is principally fed to camels, 

 apart from village cattle. The great points to remember 

 in the making or purchase of bhoosa are that (J) it 

 must be clean, dry, and of good colour, {ii\ it should not 

 be more than one year old, (in) it should be small (pieces 

 not more than i" in length, or less) and not coarse 

 or knotty. Other valuable fodders of the bhoosa class 

 are paddy straw and ragi straw to which the foregoing 

 principles apply mutatis -mutandis . 



CHAPTER XII. 



Ensilage. — A method of storing green fodder of almost 

 all descriptions including weeds (but 

 ^^^disc^rlged° ''^ "^"^ entirely), for feeding, principaHy, 

 to horned cattle, when green fodder is 

 out of season, in times of shortage, and to utilize surplus 

 and other green grass which might be wasted otherwise in 

 the monsoon season. Silo pits may be of any size to suit 

 circumstances, as far as possible the size should be so 

 arranged, that once a pit is opened it will be finished in a 

 week or ten days ; every day that a pit is open the silage is 

 deteriorating and what is equally important to the farm 

 manager is losing weight. Whether the authorities allow 

 sufficient margin for loss in conversion between green weight 

 and silage is not for me to discuss, but if you are going 

 to keep within the margin you must be about and awake 

 both when filling and issuing pits. As a guide to size a pit 

 30' x 12' X 6' will on the average hold 1,500 maunds of green 

 grass and turn out 1,000 maunds of silage (a depth of 6' will 



