Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1858-02-06
Why use cut Feed?

An intelligent farmer asks for the
philosophy OF cutting hay. He can un-
derstand that it is useful to cut corn
cattle will eat them better. But when
cattle will eat up good English hay per-
fectly clean, why should it be passed
through the hay cutter!
Our friend evidently supposes, that the
stomach does its work upon everything
that passes into it, with equal facility,
and without any tax upon the rest Of the
system. This is manifestly an error
All food has to be ground up before it can
be assimilated, and pass into the circula-
ton of the animal. If food is not artif-
cially prepared by cutting, grinding, or
steaming, the animal has to prepare it
himself, so far as he is able. Certain
kinds of food will pass through the sys-
TEN, imparting to it only a part of their
nutriment, because the teeth of the animal
have not perfectly masticated it. Whole
kernels of corn or OF oats are frequently
seen in the feces of all old horse.
The more perfectly food can be pre-
pared, the more completely will the sys-
tenn appropriate its nutriment. If the
whole labor oil grinding up the food is
thrown upon the animal it is serious tax
,mon the vital energy, which every good
farmer wants for other purposes. In the
case of the horse and the OK, YOU want
the strength applied to locomotion and to
draft. Whatever strength is applied to
grinding food, is SO much taken away
from their capacity for labor. If three or
four hours OF strong muscular labor are
spen! in working up hay and straw into
a pulp, there is "A crest loss OF strength
and of time.
In the case of iattening animals, you
want the aliment to go to the formation
of fat, and flesh, This process goes on
successfully, Just as the animal is kept
ouiet, and comfortable. No useless labor
should be expended in the grinding up o
food. The straw-cutter, working up the
hay into fragments OF half an inch il
length or less, perlorme a good part o
the laws, and makes the feeding of tho
animals light matter. If the hay coult
he ground up into fine meal, it woult
he still better; as it would make the WORK
of the animal still lighter, and woult
more completely yield up its nutriment
If il could be steamed it would be hes
of all as it would then be wholly appro
priated.
We have no doubt that it pays quite a
well to pass hay through the machine, a
the coarsest fodder. A roet-cutter i
also an Indispensable adjunct TO the barn
and the more perfectly it communities thr
roots the better.
The farmer who has ever experimental
with these machines, and marked tn
results Of feeding with hay, and root
prepared in this way, can have no doub
of their utility. Laziness, we apprehend
has quite as much to do with the neglec
of these machines as ignorance. 1t
work to turn. the crank to cut up ha
enough to feed twenty head of cattle, an
in prospect Of spending the elbow greai
it is very convenient to believe that
will not pay. Sloth, however, is poo
counsellor in this case, as in all Others
We should as soon think Of feeding cartl
in the open field in the bleak WintC
weather, as Of feeding them with uncI
hay. A warm stable and straw cutie
are both good investments. .--.4nerica
.agricpitprist.