Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1868-12-04
Feeding Horses.

To PUT horse In the best t00EJflJ 4)tGgitg
for sale, he should be fed on grain or corn
which has been soaked in water about 40
hours and then kept on floor till it has
sprouted it should lie about six inches
thick, and be turned about every four or
five hours, being watered sometimes TO
keep it moist-in short, treated just the
same as masters treat barley prior to being
put on the kiln to dry; barley is the best
grain for a horse, when spronted Mix
one pound of sulphur, one pound OF rosln
and two pounds of fenugreek, and give
two tablespoonfuls every second or third
night, by shaking it among the feed or
giving it in any mash the horse is fond OF.
Four ounces of anthony mixed with the
above, and giving one tablespoonful, will
give an increased lustre to the skin and
will improve the very worst looking brute
in existence. The exercise should be
chiefly walking-no violent sweating and
no long journeys.
To keep horses in condition for farm
work, and for any work where the pace
does not exceed five or six miles per hour,
they can be turned on grass in summer,
but should have oats morning, noon and
evening, and little hay too at noon; the
quantity of oats to be given will depend a
good deal on the state of the grass the
horses live on, and also the nature OF the
work. Regular, steady work is best; for,
though one rest day is very well, when a
number of idle days come together the
horses sweat extra, and lose more on the
first day at work again, than they gained
by the prolonged rest. When in the
stable on dry food entirely, some
farmers recommend clover
made from clover cut when the seed be-
gins to shed, but this is very wrong; for
that kind of hay is woody in the stems,
and it has not only greatly injured the
land by standing till it was too old, but it
has decidedly injurious effect on the
horses - producing coughing, heaves,
swelled heels and legs, and often inflam-
nation in the eyes. The only way in
which it can be given without dire results,
is by cutting it into chaff and wetting it;
served thus, and some meal mixed with it,
there are those in the country who will
call it "the perfection of hay" Hay
made from young grass will cause horses
to dung rather looser, but when it is kept
to be old hay it ceases to have that effect,
and in England hay kept over till the
second year always commands higher
price than "new hay" In that country,
where grain does not ripen till month
later than in America, the grassis cut ear
lier by a month than it is here For farm
work, and any other slow work, it is not at
all essential that any great importance be
attached to any particular method of feed
ing or to any particular character of food.
Old dry-stemmed grass, when made into
hay, is doubtless best to be cut up and
wetted to assist the digestion; and meal,
which hasrather a securing tendency, may
help to carry off humors which would
otherwise be engendered; but when good,
wholesome, nutritious hay and oats are
fed, the horse should eat them dry, for the
saliva is the natural moisture to go into
the stomach with the food, and it is sure
to be much better masticated in that state.
A little good chaff mixed with the oats
will, if not wetted, cause horses to grind
the oats closer, so that few will pass
through whole.-Oor. Country Gentleman.