EXPERIMENTAL WORK ON COLT FEEDING 
111 
up at a time. These foals ate an average of 16.5 pounds per day. The 
feeding period varied from 140 to 223 days and the average gain was 2.1 
pounds daily at an average cost of 18 cents for feed. $51.66 was the 
estimated cost of feed for the first year. The method of feeding pursued, 
while not applicable to raising inferior stock, still finds place in forcing 
pure-bred colts or grades of superior make-up. 
At the Kansas Station, McCampbell 106 performed a feeding test on ten 
pure-bred and ten grade colts and the objects in view were: 
“1. Can good draft colts be grown without the use of oats? 
“2. What does it cost to develop a draft horse under average Kansas 
conditions? 
“3. What type of colt usually develops into the largest horse?” 
The colts were approximately eight months old and the total length 
of time through which the experiment was carried was 720 days. One 
lot was fed a grain ration of oats with alfalfa hay, straw, corn stover, 
and pasture, while the other got a grain mixture composed of 75% of 
corn, 25 per cent of bran, and 5 per cent of oil meal, together with alfalfa 
hay, straw, corn stover and pasture. The same amount of grain and the 
same kind and amount of roughage were provided for. It was intended 
to induce maximum growth and the colts were in good condition but not 
over-fat. 
The results of the investigation as summarized by McCampbell follow: 
“1. The colts receiving a grain ration of 70 per cent of corn, 25 per 
cent of bran, and 5 per cent of oil meal made a daily growth of 1.023 
pounds during the entire period of 720 days, while the colts receiving 
oats made a daily growth of only 0.926 pounds. 
“2. Each pound of growth during the entire period made by the colts 
receiving corn, bran and oil meal cost $0.1504, while each pound made by 
the colts receiving oats cost $0,186. 
“3. The colt made more rapid growth during the first year after wean¬ 
ing than during the second year. The first year’s daily growth averaged 
1.285 pounds and the second year’s daily growth 0.7 pounds. 
”4. Although the total cost of feeds consumed during the first year 
was greater than that during the second year, the growth was cheaper. 
The average cost of each pound of growth during the first year was $0,142, 
and during the second year $0,230. 
“5. The average total cost of developing the grade colts from the time 
they were approximately eight months old until they were ready to 
work (two and one-half years) was $123.37. The cost of raising a draft 
colt to the age of eight months is about $50, making the total cost (in¬ 
cluding the labor) until the colt is ready to work approximately $175, 
under conditions and prices similar to those of 1913-1914. 
”6. The colts showing considerable bone and stretch at weaning time 
developed into the largest horses. The plump, mature looking weanlings 
are still plump little horses.” 
At the Illinois Station, Edmonds 107 put under trial the raising of ten 
pure-bred draft weanling fillies up to two years of age on alfalfa hay, 
corn and oats. Oats and corn, in half and half proportions by weight, 
form the grain mixture. Alfalfa was the only roughage fed, and during 
the pasture season the fillies had access to blue grass mixed with a little 
of timothy, orchard grass, medium red and white clover. The feeding 
periods embraced two winters and one summer. 
According to Edmonds, “The trial seemed to indicate that a liberal por¬ 
tion of well-cured legume hay should be the foundation for feeding young, 
growing horses. Along with this roughage, enough grain should be fed 
to produce the desired growth. In this experiment it seemed necessary, 
unless the fillies received a setback in growth, to feed some grain through¬ 
out the pasture season. 
“Alfalfa hay fed with corn and oats gave results of a character which 
