Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-01-08
FACTS ABOUT FEEDING.
Variety Encourages Appetite. Healthful
ness and Thrift.

rs
Variety Encourages Appetite. Healthful-
ness and Thrift.
Mr.. F. p. Root writes always with
the authority of a thoughtful and ex-
ceptionally successful farmer. What
he says in recent letter to the A,neri-
can Rural Home about s.winter care
and feeding of stock is based on
long experience. First in Importance
he rates comfortable shelter from cold
and storms, then regular meals and
drink; he thinks this of even greater
consequence than quality or quantity of
food. As to the latter point:
IF more is fed than is eaten at Q
meal, it is waste, for it will not be
eaten afterward, unless the animal is
forced by extreme hunger. The judi
cious feeder will keep the appetite
sharp by never feeding more than can
be readily eaten, and will be sure to
feed at regular hours of the day.
There is often great waste in the fat
tening of hogs by over-feeding-not so
much from the waste of grain as in
the want of thriving condition. A
pen of hogs may be fed to gain from
one to two pounds per day, and the
same quantity of grain may be fed
with less than one-half the gain, and
the same is true of other fattening ami
mails. l have seen a horse stand be-
fore a rack filed with hay all day with
out eating, though hungry, because the
hay was stale from overlooking. Judi
cious feeding can only be done where
one hand has the constant care, and he
must learn the wants of the animal and
carefully supply those wants"
Reference is made to the expense of
steaming all dry fodder; also of en-
Staging green crops. Neither of these
processes is thought to be at present
profitably available to the average
farmer in diversified husbandry. AS to
cutting, grinding and various methods
of feeding we quote five paragraphs
well worth the space they occupy:
my conclusions are that under or
binary circumstances it does not pay to
cut dry fodder. Labor is expensive,
machinery costs considerable, and the
gain is small. Many farmers claim that
the butts of cornstalks, straw or refuse
hay can be so sweetened by sprinkling
meal over them as to be eaten clean by
stock; but the gain is more from the
meal than from the rejected fodder
which may by this process be con-
sumed. The butts of stalks, or poor
hay, that stock with good appetites
will reject can have but little nourish-
ment in them-not enough to pay ex-
pense of young stock to eat them.
s.Cut cornstalks are in better con-
dition for the manure-heap, but not
enough is gained to pay cost of cutting.
Cut fodder must be fed in managers,
otherwise the loss will be greater than
when fed uncut. | have found the
greatest economy in feeding cornstalks
to cattle in stanchions, where they can
not tramp them under foot; and when
properly fed but small portion of the
stalk will be rejected-in my estima-
ton, no more than when cut and fed in
fattening cattle and hogs, there is gain
in grinding more than enough to pay
cost, but in feeding sheep or work
horses corn / prefer to feed on the cob,
for they will eat slow and masticate
more perfectly.
''In fattening hogs on new corn, as is
customary during the fall months, and
before the corn becomes dry enough to
grind well, there is but little loss in
feeding whole corn in the ear, but when
dry there is great loss in feeding our
flint corn unground. Indian corn is
the common feed for pork-making, and
seems a natural diet for the hog, but l
think mixture of other grain less nu-
tritious, and ground together is more
healthful and will increase gain. Meal
should always be wet, and stand few
hours before feeding.
''For fattening neat cattle / have fed
corn-meal clear; also have mixed equal
bulk of wheat-bran, and have fed corn
and-cob-meal ground together; this lat
ter regard as the cheapest feed when
the farmer depends upon homegrown
feed. Clear corn-meal is too rich for
high feeding of young cattle. A mix
ture of wheat-bran makes a lighter and
less concentrated feed, which is pro-
motive of health and thrift; and for the
same reasons, grinding corn and cob
together makes better feed without
estimating nutritious matter in the cob.
1.-THE dent corn is preferable to the
flint corn, there being less cob, and the
grain grinds finer in the iron mill used
for this mode of grinding. [ have
mill that grinds much cheaper than the
grist mill, and at home where grinding
can be done at any convenient time;
also we have dent corn that ripens as
early as the common flint, and yields as
well or better. / made over two pounds
per day gain on steers fed on such
meal last winter on moderate rations,
together with mixed clover and timothy
hay. / would not feed cornstalks when
feeding corn-meal to fattening steers;
there is too much sameness of feed.
Variety encourages appetite, healthful-
ness and thrift IN. Y. Tribune.