The RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
175 
Live Stock Matters 
Conducted By Prof. F. C. Minkler 
Feed for Driving Horse 
Will you advise me what you consider 
a suitable grain ration for a driving mare 
about 12 years old, weighing 950 to 1,000 
lbs. and doing very little work? I have 
been told that corn or cornmeal is liable 
to cause indigestion in a horse of that 
age. ■ E. P. M. 
New Hampshire. 
It is not advisable to feed driving 
horses exclusively oh ear corn each day, 
although it is possible to give them one 
feeding of ear corn .each day, provided it 
is •sppplemented with wheat bran and 
groupd oats.. If the mare is 12 years old, 
it is probable that her teeth need float¬ 
ing, hnd it would be well to make sure 
that they are meshing properly in order 
that she can properly masticate her food. 
Unless you have ear corn that you have 
produced and are anxious to feed I wmuld 
prefer a ration for a driving horse mixed 
as follows: 50 lbs. of ground oats, 25 
lbs. of wheat bran. 15 lbs. of cracked or 
shelled corn and 10 lbs. of oilmeal. I 
should feed the bulk of the grain at noon, 
and would give her hay once a day, pre¬ 
ferably at night. If the mare weighs 900 
lbs. give her from 9 to 14 lbs. of this 
grain mixture per day, the amount vary¬ 
ing according to the degree of work ac¬ 
complished. She should be fed 1 lb. of 
hay for each 100 lbs. of live weight, or 
9 lbs. of hay, preferably Timothy, per 
day. It is well to make it a fixed prac¬ 
tice to feed a driving horse a bran mash 
once a week. This is accomplished by 
pouring half a bucketful of boiling water 
on three or four quarts of bran, and 
allow this to cool down to body tempera¬ 
ture, after which a little salt is added, 
and the animal allowed to drink this, 
which is supplied in the form of a thick 
mash. This will reduce the danger from 
indigestion and other digestive disorders. 
Grain With Stover and Clover Hay 
We have excellent corn stover, fair 
clover hay, no roots or silage, corn. oat6, 
buckwheat and rye. We can get oilmeal 
at $4.50 per cwt. and cottonseed meal for 
slightly less, but do not like to use the 
latter.' How much stover, hay and grain 
on the average should we feed daily per 
cow? Is one pound of grain to three of 
milk sufficient when we have no silage or 
succulent roots? Our cows are mostly 
Jerseys, partly registered. L. E. T. 
Pennsylvania. 
A safe rule to follow in determining the 
amount of hay or roughage to allow dairy 
cows in milk is to provide them with all 
of the dry fodder they will clean up with 
relish. This will mean that they will eat 
from 10 to 12 lbs. of mixed hay, that they 
will pick over and sort out what they de¬ 
sire from 12 or 15 lbs. of stover, and that 
they should be allowed all of either or 
both of these materials that they would 
clean up without waste. For a grain 
ration utilizing the materials that you 
have at hand I would recommend the fol¬ 
lowing: 400 lbs. of corn and cob meal, 
300 lbs. of ground oats, 200 lbs. of ground 
buckwheat. 150 lbs. of ground rye, 350 
lbs. of either oil or cottonseed meal, 100 
lbs. gluten meal. It would be much better 
to feed the oilmeal rather than the cot¬ 
tonseed meal in combination with such 
materials as corn and rye and buckwheat. 
One ,pound of grain for each 3 or 3% lbs. 
of milk produced per day is a safe basis 
in calculating the amount of grain to 
feed, and it is likely that they will do 
quite as well on this amount as if given 
more without the addition of some form 
of succulence. Of course the way to 
determine whether more grain would be 
advantageous is to increase the amount 
slightly each day and see if it is followed 
by an increase in production. Cows that 
do not have access to silage, roots or suc¬ 
culence of any sort, eat more generously 
of hay and shredded corn fodder, but, ns 
suggested above, they should be allowed 
all of the roughage they will clean up 
with relish. 
Value of Buckwheat 
Would it be profitable to buy buck- 
'heat at $1.25 per bu. or $2.50 per cwt.7 
haVe oats and barley, to mix with it. 
1-hgt other grains would I need to mix 
nth it to make a balanced ration for dry 
3 wk, or would it be more profitable to 
?11 'the buckwheat and buy .buckwheat 
fiddlings at about $45 per ton? 
New York. , M. F. b. 
I would use the ground buckwheat in 
ly intended ration for dairy cows, for 
am sure that this material is scarcely 
ppreciated by dairymen who are anxious 
> use homemade feeds exclusively. While 
round buckwheat is scarcely as palatable 
s some other feeds, it furnishes both 
irhohydrate and. protein in economical 
)rm, and middlings would be well worth 
45 a ton. The following ration, includ- 
lg buckwheat middlings, is submitted: 
90 lbs. ground buckwheat, 300 lbs corn- 
leal or hominy, 300 lbs. ground oats, 
50 lbs. gluten. 50 lbs. oilmeal. There 
mild be verv little difference in selling 
our buckwheat at $2.50 per cwt. and 
nyipg in turn buckwheat middlings con- 
lining some bran at $45 a ton. It would 
spend entirely upon labor costs. 
Feeding Milch Cows 
We have two cows, one nearly pure Jer¬ 
sey and the other Jersey and Guernsey. 
They will freshen about April 1. I am 
at present feeding the following grain: 
Ground oats, three parts; cornmeal, one 
part; wheat bran, one part, two quarts at 
a feeding, with a handful of salt twice a 
week, immediately after morning milk¬ 
ing. followed by two feedings of cornstalks 
and all the hay they will clean up after 
the evening milking. In addition they 
have chopped mangels or apples once or 
twice a week. Can I improve thj$? 
New York. a. j. u. 
Your two cows that are to freshen 
about April 1 will no doubt go dry very 
shortly, and it is important that they 
put on a generous amount of flesh during 
their dry period. It is the common prac¬ 
tice of dairymen to reduce the amount of 
grain that is supplied cows during their 
dry period, and expect them to subsist on 
roughage with very little grain. This is 
a very foolish step to take, for I know 
that our best dairymen find it more profit¬ 
able to feed more grain to their cows 
during the time they are enjoying their 
rest period. Rather than utilize the mix¬ 
ture that you have suggested I would try 
the following: 30 lbs. ground oats, 30 
lbs. cornmeal, 30 lbs. wheat bran, 10 lbs. 
oilmeal. A cow in fair flesh, weighing 
800 lbs., should be fed from 6 to 9 lbs. of 
this mixture daily during her dry period 
and. as calving time approached, the corn 
should be taken from the mixture and the 
amount fed reduced to 4 or 5 lbs., con¬ 
sisting chiefly of wheat bran and ground 
i*ats. After the cow has freshened and 
the inflammation has disappeared from 
the udder, I would increase the amount 
of oilmeal in order that an added amount 
of protein could be supplied. 
A suitable mixture to feed following 
the freshening period would be as follows: 
30 lbs. ground oats, 40 Tbs. cornmeal. 30 
lbs. oilmeal, 20 lbs. hraif. 10 lbs. beet pulp. 
If the cows are in milk they should be 
fed their mangels daily rather than twice 
a week, and if you have an abundance of 
them you could feed as much as 30 or 40 
lbs. per day. There is very little to be 
gained by feeding mangels to dry cows, 
and I would advise saving them until the 
cows freshen and are in full flow of milk. 
Feed all of the roughage the cows will 
clean up without waste. 
age of lean to fat is inherited to a large 
extent, nevertheless systematic feeding 
will modify this within reasonable limits, 
especially if a pig is overdone. I would 
suggest that you have your pig weighed, 
and you would be safe iu estimating that 
for every 100 lbs. of live weight the ani¬ 
mal will yield 72 or 73 lbs. of edible 
meat. 
Estimating Weight of Hog 
Will you give me an estimate of the 
live and dressed weight of a Berkshire 
pig of the following measurements that is 
in good growing condition and not having 
a large paunch? Chest measure directly 
behind the shoulder, 45 in.; length from 
end of snout to roots of tail, 52 in. 
Maine. c. F. B. 
It is scarcely iu accord with common 
practice to make a determination of the 
dressing percentage of a market pig 
through certain measurements. The per¬ 
centage of edible meat that a pig will 
dress depends upon a number of factors, 
such as his age, condition and degi - ee of 
ripeness. Prime market hogs, that is, 
those weighing from 175 to 250 lbs., live 
weight, will dress out from 75 to 80 per 
cent on the hooks. It. is not uncommon 
to find pigs dressing below 70 per cent, 
and it is seldom indeed that they yield 
above 80 per cent. Prime dressed car¬ 
casses are the product of pigs that have 
reached maturity at a relatively early 
age, and from those that have not been 
fed too extensively on purely carbohy¬ 
drate carrying feeds. While the pereent- 
Coming Farmers’ Meetings 
Winter Course State School of Agricul¬ 
ture, Cobleskill, N. Y„ Jan. 5-Feb. 27. 
Winter Courses, Ohio State College, 
Columbus, Jan. 5-Feb. 27. 
Massachusetts Union Farmers’ meet¬ 
ing, Horticultural nail, Boston, Jan. 
19-23. 
Farmers’ Week. Morrisville State Agri¬ 
cultural School, Morrisville, N. Y., Jan. 
19-23. 
Farm Products Show, Harrisburg, Pa., 
Jan. 20-23. 
Agricultural Week, Harrisburg, Pa., 
Jan. 20-23. 
Madison Square Garden Poultry Show, 
New York, Jan. 21-22. 
New York State Agricultural Society, 
Albany, Jan. 21-22. 
Farmers’ Week, Ohio State University, 
Columbus. Jan. 26-30. 
Ohio State Horticultural Society, fifty- 
third annual meeting, Jan. 27-28, Ohio 
State University, Columbus; secretary, 
R. B. Cruickshank, Columbus. 
Farmers’ Week, Michigan Agricultural 
College, East Eansing, Mich., Feb. 2-6. 
New York State Grange, annual meet¬ 
ing, Rochester, Feb. 3-6. 
Connecticut Farmers’ Week, agricul¬ 
tural and industrial exhibit, State Ar¬ 
mory, Hartford, Feb. 9-14. 
Farmers’ Week, New York State Col¬ 
lege of Agriculture, Ithaca, N. Y., Feb. 
9-13. 
New York t State Potato Association, 
annual meeting. College of Agriculture, 
Ithaca, N. Y.. Feb. 10-11. 
Connecticut Pomological Society, an¬ 
nual meeting, Hartford, Feb. 12-13. 
How Breeders Feed Unicorn 
to Make Records 
*70% 
UNICORN 
TD REEDERS use Unicorn as a high 
protein feed. It has just the right 
combination of grain and oil seed pro¬ 
teins for balancing with farm grains. 
Unicorn tests more than 21% digestible 
protein. 
The percentage of protein is important, 
but no more so than the combination 
and quality of the feeds used. 
Unicorn is the feed for record-making. 
The following records recently com¬ 
pleted were made on a mixture of 
about 70% Unicorn, 15% hominy (or 
corn), and 15% oats. 
NOTE 
i ^ 
For those breeders who do 
not raise corn and oats, we 
recommend our Centaur 
Feed, made of corn, oats, 
oilmeal and bran. 
Semi-Offical Year Records Made With Unicorn 
Breed Age Lbs. Milk Lbs. Fat 
*Walcowis Ollie Mooic Holstein Jr. 2 21,569.70 
*Nancy Whitehall Ayrshire Jr. 4 18,707.00 
Staj Watson Mooic 3rd Holstein Full-aged 25,994.50 
Fryslan Waldorf Holstein Jr. 4 24,648.60 
( World’s milk record in class token, made) 
Doede Binnenia Flora - Holstein 11 yr«. 28,857.00 
( World’s milk and fat record for cow bf her age) 
* World’s fat record in class when made. 
S08.50 
754.00 
736.56 
894.39 
1005.66 
Unicorn is made to fit your cows by 
people who know feeds and cows. 
Feeding cows ‘‘right” is difficult. Uni¬ 
corn helps you get a maximum yield. 
Unicorn is not high priced when fed 
with your own grain. 
CHAPIN & COMPANY, Chicago 
