Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1876-12-15
Carrots for Horses and Cattle.

y
ing various subjects.-Neao York
Tribune.
Carrots for Horses and Cattle.
No food of the root kind is so
kcenly relished by horses as carrots;
indeed, most horses prefer them to
oats. Carrots, when mixed with
chatf, without corn, will keep horses
in excellent condition fov perform,
ing all kinds Of labor. They may
be fed from December to the begin
ming or middle of May, to which pc
Rod, with proper carein this latitude,
they may be preserved. They are
especially beneficial forhorses toward
spring, at which time corn may be
added for few weeks. in certain
parts of Europe, farmers depend
solely upon carrots, with proper
allowance of hay, as winter food for
their horses, without giving them any
grain whatever; and it is asserted
that by this mode of feeding farm
horses considerab e saving of hay
is effected, as compared with the
usual custom Of the country in feed
ing corn and hay. Draft and farm
horses are given in the proportion
of fifty to seventy pounds weight of
carrots each per day on an average,
not allowing them quite 50 many in
the very short days, and sometimes
more than that quantity in the sprins
months. A portion of the carrots
are sliced in the cut chaff or hay, the
rest are given whole to the horses at
night, with moderate quantity Of
hay in their racks; and with this
food the horses will usually enjoy
uninterrupted health. There are
persons who think that carrots only
given AS food to horses are injurious
to their constitutions; but this belief
is without foundation other than
prejudice. Experiments carefully
conducted have proved that team
horses, winter and summer, will per-
form ordinary work OH carrots as 4
winter food, with the assistance of
proper soiling in summer, and may
be kept the entire year round upon
the produce OF IN acre of land in
carrots.
Without reference to the many To-
cal opportunities of market for the
sale of the carrot, it is the most val
liable esculent in the entire range of
practical husbandry on account of
its superior properties as a general
article of food for several descrip-
tons of animals usually tonnd on y
farm. The only reasonable objec-
ton urged against the more general
introduction of carrots into the reg
ular system of cropping is their ex-
pensive and tedious early culture,
which objection certainly has con
siderable weight. Nevertheless, when
capital and industry can be combin-
ed, carrots offer fairer opportunity
of n remunerative return than any
other comparative crop, and where
introduced will be found valuable
article of food for horses, pigs and
poultry of every description. Butter
Of the most agreeable appearance
and exquisite flavor may be obtain
ed for the table by feeding mich
cows upon carrots, and if stored for
them during severe weather in win
ter there will be no diminution in
quantity, or deterioration in quality
Of their produce.
In establishments for trottipg or
racing horses, carrots are especially
beneficial. Toward spring, when
the horses have been fed many
months on dry food-oats, corn and
hay-they are extremely seryiceable,
indeed, necessary. Among horsemen
they have gained the character of
being good for the wind; but we
suspect the only merit they can claim
in this respect Is that they keep the
body cool and properly open, by
which they conduce greatly to health
and condition, and consequently to
clearncss of wind. About the same
thing may be said of their claims to
producing q fine coat; whatever con-
duces to health docs SO; consequent
ly, carrots do so. To any one who
has been in racing stable or in any
stable where carrots are fed, it may
seem almost useless to say that they
should be sliced inpretty long slices.
1t is dangerous to give them cut
crossways, as horses are extremely
fond of them, and it at all greedy,
would be apt to bolt pieces of them
whole, which would be quite likely
to cause some of them to stick in
the throat. Carrots, if kept in dry
place, in sand, will keep long time;
or, in sand, they will keep out Of
doors. if covered sufficiently with
straw and then banked up with
earth.-Nationai Live Stock Jour-
ual,