SILVER-FOX FARMING. 41 
PREPARATION AND METHODS OF FEEDING. 
The preparation of the feed and the method of feeding have a great 
influence on the breeding of foxes and the production of fine pelts. 
Only sweet, wholesome, clean feed should be supplied — never putrid 
or diseased material. A few extra dollars spent to obtain the right 
kinds of feed may save many hundreds later, for a proper diet and 
satisfactory methods of feeding are important factors in lessening 
the chances of outbreaks of disease. The general practice followed 
on many successful fox ranches is to feed twice a day, morning and 
evening, the rations varying throughout the week. 
On certain days the morning feed may consist of a stew, on other- 
it may be rice combined with milk, and on still others oats with milk. 
Cracker waste, stale bread, shredded-wheat waste, home-made or 
manufactured biscuits, each in combination with milk, are used in the 
same way. Biscuits are also fed alone. 
All stews fed to foxes are prepared along one general line, and 
contain a large variety of food constituents. The meat ordinarily 
used is beef or veal, and is generally from the bony portion-. It is 
boiled until the meat falls from the bones, and then both the meat 
and the bones are removed. To the liquor is added the meat, which 
has been ground, and rice, finely ground wheat, corn, or rolled oats — 
all these cereals may be used, but one is sufficient. Chopped vegeta- 
bles, as potatoes and carrots, are added and the whole boiled until the 
cereals and vegetables are thoroughly cooked. Small portions of 
ground alfalfa hay, dried blood, ground bone, and salt are then 
thoroughly mixed in. This forms a reasonably thick stew for feeding 
to adult foxes. When intended for vixens suckling young or for 
young foxes milk and eggs should be added and the stew served 
warm. The relative proportions of the various ingredients are 
roughly as follows : 
Per cent. 
Meat 40 
Cereal 25 
Vegetables 25 
Alfalfa hay. blood, and bone 10 
While a number of fox biscuits can be purchased on the market, 
analyses have shown that the majority are deficient in mineral 
material. Biscuits prepared according to the following recipe have 
been used successfully on a number of ranches and are relished by 
the pups as well as by the adult foxes : 
Ground whole wheat, middlings, cracker waste, cracklings, baking powder, 
and fat rendered from fresh meat are mixed with buttermilk t<> form a dough. 
Tins is placed in pans approximately 10 by 12 indies in size. 13 inches deep, 
and then baked in a slow oven 1* to 2 hours. 
These biscuits when thoroughly done are not dry and hard, but 
are much like cake. They are not fed fresh, but are allowed to stand 
for a day or two. when they may lie given either dry or with milk. 
The evening meal consists generally of raw or cooked moat, cut 
up in small pieces or ground. This lessens the chance that the foxes 
will drag it into their dens or bury it. thus rendering the pens 
insanitary. The heads and entrails of rabbits, chipmunks, and other 
