Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1868-07-10

that does him good. Nitrogen is expen-
siye and valuable, but if we furnish more
than the animal requires, it passes through
the bowels in an undigested state and IS
lost.
It is of course understood that much OF
the food that is eaten by herbiverous anil
mails passes through them undigested ana
unabsorbed, and it seems that the action
of such bulky food is necessary, not only
for the purpose of allowing rumlnants TO
chew the cud, but in order to stimulate
and irritate to certain extent the surface
of the alimentary canal Men often over
look this fact, and fancy that they can
feed concentrated and easily digested food
TO cattle and so obtain astonishing results.
Beyond a certain limited extent this is not
true, and it's falsity was perfectly illustrated
by the mortality of the COWS fed on the
swill of the New York distilleries. Swill
never injured an animal if fed in moderate
quantities, but animals, especially rumi-
nants, fed exclusively ON swill, soon be-
come diseased Add bulk and solidity in
the shape of cut straw, and this difficulty
will be removed By adding swill to the
dry food of any milk COW, we can increase
very perceptibly the amount of milk pro-
duced, as well as improve the general
health of the animal.
But it would seem that the chemical
constitution of this bulky portion is not
of much consequence. Straw is as good
as anything else, and it would be of great
folly to use extra supplies of rich and di-
gestible food, whether heterogeneous or 9th
erwise, merely for the purpose of obtaining
bulk.
But while we thus seek to increase the
bulk of the food which is indigested by
the animal, we must remember that if we
first of all feed pleasant and nutritious
article, such as swill or cooked meal, the
appetite of the animal will be dulled, and
it will refuse to eat a sufficient quantity of
the coarser variety.
This is best remedied by cutting the
straw and mixing it with the concentrated
food. Moreover, either straw or hay, if
cut, should be softened by long continued
maceration in warm water, or rather by
allowing it to lie for some time in warm
and very moist condition. When straw
or hay is cut in short lengths the necessity
for thorough masticatiOn is diminished.
The rigid and sharp pieces of straw pass
directly into the bowels, and instead of
proving gentle stimulant they become
harshly irritant. All this is avoided by
the SOIten1ng process TO Whlcn we nave re-
ferred, and which at the same time does
not in the slightest degree diminish the
tendency of the animal, if a ruminant, to
chew the cud.
Our readers will doubtless remember
the warm debates which were at one time
carried on in regard to the proper length
to which hay or straw should be cut, and
even in regard to the propriety of cutting
it all. The contradictory results obtained
by different experiments were no doubt
due to want of the observance of the
principles just laid down.
The principles which we have placed
before our readers are too obvious to re-
quire heightened demonstration. They
commend themselves to every intelligent
thinker, and show the necessity for study
ing to a greater extent than we have hith-
erto done, the peculiar composition and
characteristic of each different article for
food Wisconsin Farmer