The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1884-03-28
A QUESTION OF FEED.
SHAH u BE Screen Oats" or "Green wheats ?"

eve find In the Breeder and Sportsman of
March 22d, the following inquiry which. In
view of the high price of hay and the limited
acreage OF good hay lands, is becoming an
important matter to Montana stockman, es-
pecially near high markets. No answer was
made in the issue containing the inquiry. Ii
1t shall appear in succeeding number we
win be pleased to publish 1t, and hope In the
meantime some Montana farmer may have
some views to offer.-ED. N. N.-W)
From the Breeder and Sportsman, March 22d.
1t has been my custom during the five years
last past to cut my entire crop Of oats while
quite green, and after remaining in the
bunch las left by seifraking reaper SUN.
cient length Of time to dry, have 1t bound
into sheaves and stacked, and during the
winter, or at any time when IL was necessary
to feed hay to the young horse-stock or
brood mares, have the same 1.-THE oats meanl
run through the horsepower fesd-cutter and
fed to them in large dry-goods boxes, hogs
heads, or large troughs, placed at such dis
tances that all could have a chance at 1t, and
up to this winter fel. satisfied that this was
the very best way of utilizing crop where It
was intended TO be fed on the farm. This
fall, heweve,, |, by accident, "fell down on"
plan that il likely to throw my feed-eutting
machinery into the market, aud this Is how IL
came about: An irrigating ditch that runs
above where my stacks and sweep, or lever
horsepower stood, overhowed, and freezing
around the power had it about out of sight
before / noticed 1t. Severe weather coming
on soon after i commenced feeding by pitch
ing out the sheaves and simply cutting the
bands; when the horses had eaten all they
wanted the dairy cows were turned out to
clean up the balance. After feeding in this
way few times / learned just how much
was required to give each all they would
clean up, and having practiced this method
for four months am convinced that 1t is the
"boss," provided, always, that you have clean
ground to feed it on, and the oats are not
sufficiently ripe to shell out. Every one of
your readers that has tried feeding oats in
the sheaf has doubtless realized how uisat-
isfactory IL is, owing to the horses simply
eating off the heads and tramping over the
balance. This trouble is most effectually
done away with by cutting and feeding in
boxes, as by this method the stock is obliged
to eat the straw with the grain; and for stock
that are not worked / have found 1t quite
strong enough, colts coming out in the
spring very much better than those that were
fed plenty of the best of timothy hay, and
this spring my dairy cows look better and
milk better fed on the refuse than they did
when fed them all the wild hay they would
eat. The oats should be cut rs soon as 1t be-
gins TO turn, so that the straw will, when
dry, have quite green cast, thus avoiding
the Smelling out" In relating the result of
my first four years of feeding cut oats, and
the "new departure" of this winter in feed
ing uncut and using cows or other stock rs
scavengers, friend remarked "If you are
not going to cut any more, why don't you
SOW wheat, cut it green and rake up same as
hay" and that't what ] want to know.
Which do you consider the best feed-wheat,
hay or halfripe, unthreshed oats? 1t has oc-
Cured to me while writing the above that
an inquiry of this kind was rather more in
the line Of an agricultural" paper than the
Breeder and Sportsman, and / can only offer
in apology the statement that, after breeding
the horse, the next important matter was to
feed him; and If after giving your opinion |
you should deem it prudent to infiict this on |
your readers, shall fondly hope that while, |
perhaps, a few will kindly give the result of
their comparative tests, some of the Others |
may be classed with the unwilling witness |
which the shrewd attorney, failing to bring |
out the point he wants, exasperates him with |
something like the above, and be chicks"
out Just what is wanted.
Respectfully,
DYE A. MONDE.
Deer Lodge, Montana, Feb. 9th.
=. S.-A friend at my elbow says: "Incor- |
porate somewhere in the communication the |
query how much seed should be used to the |
acre where the wheat Is to be used as hay"
ID. A. NJ.