Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1872-06-28
Utilizing Straw for Fodder.

JAMES A. WHITNEY read the following
paper at a late meeting of the Farmers
Club of the American Institute, on the
above subject:
In American farming, oat straw, espe-
cially when cut somewhat green and kept
in bright condition, is fed to stock with
but little loss, but wheat, rye and barley
straw are mainly used for bedding, and
thus practically wasted for sawdust, for
est leaves, etc, costing nothing, could be
readily substituted for such uses The
English are further advanced than we in
the utilization of cheap forage, and the
present season, when the prospect of a
scant hay crop lends unusual interest to
the subject, some of their methods of pre-
pairing straw for feeding merit more than
ordinary attention. But in considering
these we must remember that an essential
contrast exists between the moist sum-
mers of England and the dry harvest pc
riods of this country, which doubtless
makes much difference in the condition
of the straw; and also that processes feas-
ible on the large farm of an English ten
ant will be difficult to carry out on the
smaller acreage of many American home
steads. Notifications must therefore be
made in the foreign practice, and in these
the farmer will need to exercise his own
Judgment with skill and care.
1t is found by far the most profitable to
cut the straw into "chaff," as It is termed
abroad, the cutting being very fne-from
three-siXteenths to three-eighths of an
inch in length. This "chatf," instead of
being fed out at once, is kept for some
months in bulk in dry barns provided for
the purpose, and from the moisture con
tanned in il at the time of storing, under
goes slight change which renders il
more palatable to cattle. To extend this
limited fermenting process during many
years (since in common use) is the object
of the more recent improvements tc
which the present paper more especially
refers. This consists in mingling witt
the straw about five per cent. of green
and succulent material, together with 8
certain proportion of salt, and then by
storing in mass, causing the flavor of the
green forage to be communicated to tn,
dry, and the nutritive elements of the
latter to be rendered more soluble and di
gestible by the solvent action of the Ter
mentation. The method has been triel
on large scale, and is recommended by
Prof. VOelcker, Chemist to the Royal Ag
ricultural Society of England. The mOdu
| OperdHdt is as fOlloWs:
| A power straw. cutter Is so connected
with steam-driven thresher that th
straw, after the separation of the grain
passes direct to the cutter, and is con
verted into chaff Before entering tn
cutter, however, the green stuff Qor eX
ample, rye cut before the kernels hav
formed) is added to it at the rate of To-
pounds to the ton of straw, and bushe
| I..Es. Il - Nl, Of nNw
| sprinkled in. The chaff falls into sack
in which it is carried to the place of stor
age, where it is left for a number o
weeks before feeding. The expense O
cutting and storing is about one shilling
or twenty-five cents for the produc
of an acre. But here the cost would
more, not only because of the highe
rates of labor, but for the reason that tn
English trials were made on farm c
4,200 acres, which permitted the use of
twelve horsepower steam engine, and a
the economy resulting from the use of tn
best machinery.
Boiled feed of any kind, poured he
upon this prepared chaff, is found to Civ
excellent results, and by the use in col
nection Herewith of il-cake, corn mea
or other concentrated food the real nj
tritive value may be made to equal or e.
ceed that of the best meadow hay at a
expense little or no greater. For TIL
purpose ground cotton seed cake has bee
found especially eflicacious, used in III
proportion of two hundred weight TO I'll
ton of fermented straw. chaH. The avit
ity with which cattle consume this pr
pared fodder, arising from the delicat
flavor given II by the green materia
greatly increases its value as compare
with ordinary cut straw, to say nothing
the greater ease with which it's elemen
of nutrition are assimilated in the pr
cesses of digestion
Green corn fodder, unknown in FL
gland, would doubtless be preferable
rye for mixing with the cut straw, own
to the greater quantity of saccharine ma
ter It contains but green oats or the afte
math of clover or meadow grasses wou
be well adapted to the purpose III
chief obstacle to the immediate adoptiC
of the method in many parts of the cOu
try will be found in the practice of
ferring the threshing until winter, whC
green forage is not at hand, but in sue
cases crushed or rasped carrots, turnir
sugar beets, and the like might perhaI
be substituted for the green forage, {
though Success would be less assured
the outset than with the sueculent m
terial previously mentioned. In tho
districts where threshing is done in d
! field, nothing but the need of suitab
! machinery need stand in the way of d
, most extensive tests of a method of utili
,, ing comparatively waste fodder, whit
abroad has proved valuable in practic
, and which certainly seems faultless
theory.