Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1877-12-12
Cob Meal.

There is a class of farmers who have
been many years trying to persuade them
selves to believe that there is nutriment in
dry corn cobs; so they take their corn to
mill in the ear, and the ''grist" they take
home looks large; but they might us well
90 to a saw-mill, and bring home a load of
sawdust to mix with corn meal. rs mix
cob meal with it. Nor has there ever been
any proofs adduced that corn and cob
meal is the least advantage to stock over
the true article. 1t is true, it aids TO fill
up cows stomach, but it is real nUtrt-
nept that cattle require, and not to have
their stomachs distended with that which
affords no nourishment.-T B. NJ, IN RH-
raj NCW Yorker.
Well, we are not exactly of that class OF
farmers,who have "been trying to persuade
themselves" but we have been for many
years in the habit of taking our corn in the
ear to mill and having it ground and feed
ing the product and we think it pays. We
never tried sawdust, so can't say but ii
will do well also.
The first experience we had, on any eX-
tended scale, in feeding cobs, was when a
boy, and the hay crop being short, and no
sale for stock, the question came to be one
of life or death to the cattle. Though
short of hay, we had considerable straw
and corn fodder. A neighbor had hired
q farm, raised a large amount of corn
which he threshed off in early winter for
market, leaving the cobs with little corn
still on them. These cobs our father
bought, there being two hundred bushels
of them; paying for each bushel the value
Of Il pint of corn. which was found by
Smelling bushel of cobs clean, to be about
what the cobs had remaining on them.
This gave us IL little over three bushels Of
corn to our two hundred bushels of saw
d, no-cobs. Well, these cobs we had
ground, and, cutting our stray and corn
fodder, fed the cob meal on it; the cattle
ate it readily, wintered WELL came out
looking well in spring, having had but lit
tie else than the "Sawdust' meal, and this
feed was, in the judgment of our father, as
expressed at the time and many times
since, equal in value to good hay. Since
then we have always ground our cobs, ant
of course believe them valuable or We
should not grind them.
There has been vast deal Of loose talk
about corn cobs and snwdust and Eastwood
rails, etc, as cattle feed, and plenty o
such positive assertion of their equal value
as is found at the head of this article, but
us to any proof of the fact, OF of the worth
lessness of cobs, we have never seen it.
and in absence of it-and in view of the
fact that cattle will eat meal made from
grinding cobs, and won't eat clear saw.
dust, we insist that the judgment of the
COW is entitled to some weight. We car
remember when wheat bran was consider
ed equally worthless, so it was run from
the bolt into the liver as not worth carry.
ing home.
Now we feed mixture made by grind.
ing two bags of ears of corn and one bag
of oats, and adding to this one.third the
quantity of bran, and we think it good
feed, and this, or something very like it,
is fed largely by some of the best dairy
farmers in our vicinity. Thus much fol
our experience in fovdins oo,o, and VT
would like to hear that of others, pro OF
con, as our readers have no doubt dscov
cred by this time that what we believe has
little to do with the admission Of articles
to the agricultural department of til,
FREEMAN. We have always had pro
found respect for the man who when ask
ell, what if the facts do not support you
theory? replied, ." so much the worse fo
the facts, but, we yet have u sort of likin!
for facts.