134 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 200. 



General Effect of the Ration. 



The animals were weighed weekly, and minor variations were noted. 

 Weights at the beginning and end of the change of ration are here given. 

 The weights indicate that Joe evidently was receiving sufficient food to 

 keep him in equilibrium and to enable him to do his work in a satis- 

 factory way, while Chub was receiving a little more than was necessary. 

 The latter was shorter of leg and chunkier in build, and would be termed 

 an easy keeper. During the first period of six weeks (May 3- June 13) 

 both horses lost a httle in weight, due to the work required after a winter 

 of comparative inaction. In the second period of four weeks (June 14— 

 July 11) each horse gained 25 pounds irrespective of the ration, due 

 probably to the less amount of work performed. During the third period 

 of four weeks (July 12-August 8) Joe on the hay ration lost 10 pounds, 

 and Chub on the hay-oat feed ration gained 15 pounds, while in the last 

 period of five weeks both horses gained somewhat, probably because of 

 the less strenuous character of the daily work requirements. 



SUMMAEY AND DISCUSSION. 



The term "oat feed" does not refer to ground oat hulls, but to the 

 so-called "mill run" resulting from the first milling of oats. The prod- 

 uct from the large modern mills contains some 80 per cent of hulls and 

 20 per cent of middlings and dust. Because of the finely ground con- 

 dition of the hulls as placed upon the market it is not possible to separate 

 the hulls from the middlings by mechanical means. An average quality 

 of oat feed contains 5 to 6 per cent of protein, about 2 per cent of fat, 

 and not over 27 per cent of fiber. Less protein and fat and more fiber 

 indicate an excess of huUs, while more protein and fat and less fiber show 

 an extra amount of middhngs, and consequently a superior product. 



While in digestibility oat feed falls a little below hay, feeding trials 

 with dairy cows have shown it to be slightly superior in the production 

 of milk. 



In case of horses, the feeding of 5 to 6 pounds daily of oat feed in place 

 of a like amount of hay was productive of quite satisfactory results, and 

 no disturbances of any kind were noted during the four and a half months 

 of the trial. It may be possible to substitute more than 6 pounds of oat 

 feed for a hke amount of hay,' but we should hardly advise it, both be- 

 cause of its lack of palatabiUty and its lack of bulk as compared with 

 hay. The feeding of 1 pound of cottonseed meal daily in the grain mix- 

 ture was in no way injurious, so far as we were able to observe, and it is 

 believed that the extra protein furnished had a -favorable effect upon the 

 animals. 



The writers are of the opinion that oat feed, if placed upon the market 

 unmixed, can best be used pound for pound as a partial hay substitute 

 for dairy cows, young stock, fattening cattle and horses, providing the 

 supply of hay is limited and oat feed can be bought at a reasonable price. 



