The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1885-08-06
HORSES WITHOUT GRAIN.
How Understandings Improves the Nutri
ent Qualities of Hay.

4
How Understandings Improves the Nutri.
ent Qualities of Hay.
notice correspondent asks in late
paper how l manage to make my hay
nutritious enough to keep work horses
on without grain.
Hints have been thrown out from
time to time as to how | managed. The
soil is deep, mellow and rich, so that
large crops grow, and consider the
hay grown on such land, that will pro-
duce some four tons to the acre in two
or three cuttings, as superior in quality
to that grown on poor, thin land, that
will produce but one ton, or less. A
good friend once asserted that his fine
hay was better than my coarse hay.
He had old meadow which Welded about
three-quarters of ton to the acre, and
then little fall feed" We agreed to
leave it to the cattle, and sample of
each was placed before them, when,
much to his disgust, mine was eaten
first, and noses thrust out plainly asking
for more.
There is as much difference in hay as
in butter, in my estimation. Fancy
creamery can not be compared with
'store-packed." And then there is a
difference in the making and time of
cutting. l have often urged farmers,
through your columns, to cut their
grass early, when at its best. and cure
it nicely; in short, to have dried grass
and not hay. Again. to feed work
horses, two-thirds at least should be
clover, and the rest timothy. Such hay,
properly cut and cured, is just about as
good as very much hay made on farms,
and grain; at least, after some ten
years experience, it seems so to me.
Not long since some writer in you1
paper spoke of the loss in weight from
cutting hay so early. Did it not occur
to him that what was lost by not letting
the first crop stand few days longer,
was gained in the second crop-that
that had just SO much the better chance?
Still do not believe in going to ex-
tremes. | would let the grass stand
till the first clover blossoms were be-
ginning to fade. With me, this time
comes about the 18th or Goth of June.
Again, it makes a difference, as |
wrote you lately, how team is driven
whether they are oyer-worked or over
driven, and whether they are pretty
good, solid-built horses, or of the small
stomach. race-horse style. | have one
pretty solid team that has been kept on
early-cut hay alone, summer and win
ter, for nearly four years, except that
when idle in the winter they are fed
part straw to keep them from getting
too tat. No man could ask for better
team to work. They are active, and
always ready for business. We have
just finished getting in our crop of pota-
toes. For four weeks they have had
solid work. such as blowing eight to ten
inches deep, drawing subsoil pillow,
Acme harrow, Thomas harrow loaded,
and the potato planter running five
inches deep. 1t has been mostly pleas
ant weather, and it has been all work
and no play, as the season was so late
we felt compelled to push things. After
this hard pull, made extra hard because
they were idle most of the winter. and
not accustomed to work, they are as fat
and sleek as any one could ask for, and
If you should drive them to town, where
there was chance to show off, You
would need to wind the reins around
your hands to hold them Now | do
not say this to Drag, but simply to show
what can be done, and | will give any
man the team who will prove that have
fed them any grain for the last three
years.
But the point l particularly wished
to speak of in this letter occurred to me
a few days ago. 1t is, that underdrain-
ing helps the horses very much. It
Will puzzle you, no doubt, to see how I
make that out. This is the way: We
can get on the land to do the heaviest
blowing and working early in the season
when it is cold. l have plowed many
day on my land, drained by nature or
with tile, when the temperature was
but little above freezing, and cold |
northwest wind blowing, when the |
team would turn over two acres or more |
in day, and not seem to feel it at all. |
When our undrained clays get dry |
enough to work, the Thermometer is ant |
to be up to seventy or eighty degrees a |
good deal of the time. Men told me
this year that they had not plowed a
Iurrow after my own blowing was all |
lone. Now this may seem like small
matter, but it is great saving of horse
strength and flesh, and it is attention to
such little points that makes farming
profitable. 1t puts one ahead with his
work, so he does not feel compelled to
work his horses when it is excessively |
warm, at heavy work, but can take
'ome lighter job till a cooler day comes.
I were horse, | should feel good
very time my owner got load of tiles.
IL may be well to say that many
lorses are fed too much hay A horse
nay eat himself poor, with hay before
nm N all the time. particularly if he is
ole; would have the hay choice, and
eed only what they will eat up clean in
Wo hours in the morning, and one hour
onA ha1e |