Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1855-01-17
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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY N. I855.

THOUGHTS UPON FEEDING WITH HAY AND
MIXED PRovENDER. When Hay and Grain
are plenty and cheap, we Yankees trouble
ourselves very little about the peculiar value
of their nutritive qualities. We push the
hay into the rack, and pour the grain into the
provender dish, without stint, and without
caring about its peculiar properties, or the COM
parative qualities Of the several grains used
When the hay crop is cut short, and grain
comes at a high price in the market, then we
begin to enquire into the economy of this or
that kind Of feed. This enquiry, we grieye
to say, is most generally prompted more to
have our coppers than from any inherent de-
sire to enlighten ourselves in regard to the
true philosophical qualities of the feed we use.
We care more for our pockets than for our
brains, in this particular.
a common observer, who feeds farm stock
any length of time, will learn that almost
every kind of food given them will have pe-
cular results. Take the different kinds of
hay. for instance. That composed of the carez
or Scdge grasses--brakes and polypods from
our bog lands-given to cattle, will afford but
little tattening material or muscular matter,
and Will render them costive and sluggish.
Sheep, however, will live on it better and
longer than horned cattle. Now, feed cattle
with the joint rush, or gunbright as it is call
ed, (EquiSefum of botanists,) which NAV, and
generally does, grow III the lower part of the
same bog, but where the water stands in a
shoal, stagnant condition, and you see almost
the reverse result. The muscles begin to fill
out, the coat becomes more lively and glossy,
the bowels become lax, and the milk of the
COW increases in quantity
Now, there is no particular appearance of
either to the eye that will lead us to Judge
what would be the peculiar effects of each
when fed to cattle. These effects are only as
certained by the experiment of feeding out,
and why or wherefore such results take place
can only be certainly determined by careful
chemical analysis.
We see some such difference in the results
Of feeding cattle and horses with the different
kinds of upland hay. That made from clo-
yer has different effect upon cattle and hor-
ses from that made from some of the ordinary
grasses, such as red top, herdsgrass, &c.
The clover, being coarser and more bulky dis
tends the stomach more fully, and has more
relaxing action on the bowels than that made
from herdsgrass, &C., pound for pound.
Hay that contains " white weed" or OK
eye daisy" as some call it. I" has some such
action as clover. Now farmers have become
acquainted with these facts, without knowing
the why or the wherefore. If this 'why and
wherefore were truly known, a good deal of
dufdhtdSe might OlleHlliueS Oe 0OLalneu from
the knowledge.
For instance if circumstances compelled YOU
to feed your cattle much on bog hay, and you
knew exactly what it lacked in order to ena-
bic it to bring about the same results that
feeding on herdsgrass or clover hay would,
you might probably add some other material
by which the desired result would be obtained.
This species of knowledge is well illustra-
ted by using the different kinds of grain for
provender. An observing farmer found that
when he fed his horse on oats only, his mus
Giles seemed to swell out, and he was lively
and strong. When he fed him on corn only,
he found that he became more covered with
fat, which, filling in around the muscles, caus-
ed him to look more plump and round-that
he was strong, but more dull, or less lively.
The chemist, by his analysis of these two
grains, finds that there is most carbonaceous
or fat-f forming material in the corn, aud most
nitro genous, or muscle, or in other words,
flesh making material in oats. The farmer,
learning this fact, says, I" l can make it right
now," and so he had his corn and oats ground
together, and fed the mixture to his horse
BY so doing, he became noted for having
handsome horses. They were muscular, fat,
strong, and lively.
true knowledge of these things makes
the feeding of cattle not only pleasant and sat-
isfactory to the reasoning power, but also
profitable in pecuniary point of view
Maine Farmer.