The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1878-12-18
Cooking Food for stock.

American Agriculturist.l
As regularly as the seasons, come the que
ries regarding the latest knowledge on the
subject OF cooking food for cattle; whether
the practice will pay; why it is not more
generally adopted, etc, etc. A few simple
principles lie at the base of the practice,
which should be understood in order to
Judge fairly In the matter. Flrst-cooking
must not be COMPOUNDED with mere moist
ening by steam Cooking, proper, is only
accomplished at a heat nearly or quite equal
to that of boiling water, or of steam
at that temperature. This degree OF
beat breaks up the food particles, especially
the starchy portion, and rendersa considera-
BILE amount digestible which otherwise
might pass through the animal and be prac
tically wasted. In order to secure the prop
er temperature in the cooking box there
must be an engine boiler or steam generator
of sufficient capacity TO keep the box full OF
hot steam; and the box itself must be so
constructed as to hold the steam when re-
ceived. Cooking under such circumstances
is said to render coarse food, such as ripe
and badly cured hay, old corn stalks, straw
etc., from one-fourth to one-third more
dlgestible-i. e., a saving of 50 90 to S.. 80 on
every $40 worth of such material.
These simple facts are so imperfectly I'M
cerstood that much of the so called steam
ed' food is only moistened with warm va
por, which merely softens the tissues OF the
fodder, without rendering 1t appreciably
more digestible. II Is claimed by those who
have tried it that cooking is profitable for a
herd large enough (ssy so and upward) to
make the gain more than equal to the cost
of the labor and interest on the investment
in apparatus, etc. Mere moistening does
not pay, as nothing is accomplished by it
which does not take place within the ami
NAL. There are small cooking steamers, but
for operations on a large scale, perhaps the
the most economical steam generator is the
boiler of a to horse power engine, which
at the same time furnishes powe: for cutting
the fodder preparatory to steamlng, for
threshing, wood saving, etc. A simple cal
culation will decide the question for each
particular case.
As stated above, hard, coarse fodder, such
as over ripe hay, straw, corn stalks, ETC.. Is rem
dered more dgestible by cooling. A large
portion OF the nutritious portion OF such ma
terIal is so bound up in the tissues or cells of
the plant that the digestive organs of the
animal have little effect upon it; but under
the influence OF the cooking the hard tissues
are broken up and the otherwise unavsil-
able food is rendered available. Experience,
experiment, and investigation show, how
ever, that properly cured hay-grass cut
when green and succulent, and simply
cured, not dried-fodder corn, Hungarian
grass and similar fodder, roots and finely
by the process of cooking; for these are
already very nearly or quite in the
natural condition, and suited to the
animals capacity for digestion. A COW
whose organization has become so artificial
as to be unable to digest the food provided
by nature hsd,best be sold to some man who
keeps large herd and believes in and prac-
tices cooking; he will find that il pays in her
case. No one would think of stesming grass
or any green fodder, because his observation
and experience tell him that nature has
made the cows stomach to digest such food;
and experience tells the same story about
properly cured fodder.
Tne obvious lesson from these facts is that
cooking o. coarse fodder pays when there is
euough of such material TO be utilized, and
the herd of cattle is a large one; that mere
moistenIng such feed does not pay; and that
all fodder should be put into the barns In
condition most nearly resembling its state
when it is most palatable and nutritious TO
the animals feeding upon it while growing.