The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-10-31
The Food Of Animals.

condition and properties, exercises
a wonderful influence IN keeping
domesticated animals healthy.
The most nutritious food is not the
best and most economical under all
circumstances, because the specific
sought is not always the same:
therefore we are compelled to give
various substances IN a mixed crn-
dition to produce the desired re-
suits. There is no doubt an al
vantage gained in the modern
method OF grinding gram and the
mechanical division Of all coarse
substances into minute parts,
which aids m~astication as we'll as
digestion; but this mode of pre-
pairing food may be carried to ex-
tremes. and the animal suffer IN
consequence.
Food in a green state is certainly
more nutritious and natural than
when dried. as in hay, grain or
a but in cold climates, We
have TO preserve food in this unnat-
ural condition, and therefore arti-
fetal means are employed to restore
what is lost in drying.
Grain is ground into meal or
-four, and in this condition Is more
readily assimilated than If fed
when dry. Boiling or steamlng OF
food Is largely %practlced Tor the
purpose of making the coarser kinds
soft, and facilitating their diges-
ton. Fermentation, which may
be regarded as a sort OF cooking,
is also another method Of making
food easy of digestion, and some
writers claim that it adds to its
nutritive qualities. We know that
brewers grains are extensively en-
ployed as food for animals, and
they fatten quickly, and If proper
care is given to cleanliness and ven
tilation of stables, remain quite
healthy.
There are certainly two sides to
this question of cooking, steaming,
cutting and grinding food for ami
mails, both as to the welfare and
health of the animals. When food
of all kinds is cheap, the most
profitable made is to feed with as
| little preparation as possible, but
in older portions OF the country
and in large cities, there is a great
saving by a thorough manipulation
of all coarse substances used for
this purpose.
Those who most strongly oppose
the heating or cooking for animals,
urge that it is unnatural, and there
fore must be injurious, forgetting
that in DEMONSTRATING animals they
are placed under unnatural condl-
tions. 1t is true that an animals
stomach require s a certain degree
0. extention and contraction in or
der to keep it IN a healthy condion,
and food that is too highly contrac-
ted. however nutritious, will not
answer the purpose any more than
very unnutritlon food.
In feeding any nutritious food,
a certain quality of some bulky,
course kind should be added, IN
order to expand the stomach as
the stomach as well as the lntes-
tines. Unless this is attended to
digestion will always be incomplete
no matter how healthy the animal
may be, and for this reason We be-
lieve that all ground or cooked
food should be given along with
cut hay or straw. The concentra-
ted portion will furnish the re-
quisite nutrition, and the other
gives the needed expansion to the
stomach. Animals should always
be fed at regular intervals, and the
old maxim of ''good food and a 1T
tie at a time" is applicable in feed.
ing all domesticated stock. 1t il
also well to change the food occa'
sionally as an appetizer, as we'll as
to stimulate the digestive organs
AS a rule, farmers neglect to supply
their animals with a variety of food
and if they become unhealthy il
consequence, their owners seldom
attribute it to neglect in furnishing
proper 1ood food.-N. T.. Sun.