The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1886-07-16
IAN AND DEMOCRAT BLOOMSBURY, COLUMBIA COUNTY, Pa
Feeding Horses.
From the Popular Science Ncws

From the Popular Science Ncws
Horses doing full work should be fed
three times daily if they can be fed
four times, so much the better. Little,
given frequently, is preferable to large
feeds given at long intervals. Farm
horses, as a rule, are watered immedi.
ately afterwards. Some experiments
tried on worthless horses at Alfort, in
France, seem to show that the latter of
these systems is not the right one.
The horses in question were killed for
dissection after being fed. They were
first fed and then given water, and
afterwards killed and examined. Some
of the grain which they had eaten was
found undigested in the intestines,
twenty feet beyond the stomach. And
the waste of food in such cases is not
all, for portion of the material that
is carried along undigested is likely to
have an inhammatory effect upon the
mucous membrane. Nor is the plan of
giving a horse its fiji of cold water
Just before eating altogether free from
objection.
The London agricultural Gazette
says that in Dublin the daily ration
for the horses of the tramway company
is ten pounds of maize, seven of oats
and twelve of hay, with half pound
of bran. 1t adds that there is power
for work in the well fed horse which
is usually wanting in the under-fed one
as was well illustrated by Col. Kings
cote IN paper on Horse Labor in
Farming which showed that "where
the horses were literally fed the plow-
ing cost 6s. Sd. per acre whereas
with the teams in poor heart, the plow-
ing cost los. Cd. per acre. or nearly
half dollar more.
Nor must we forget that horses vary
a good deal in their capacity for food;
and appetite, which depends on health
and temperament, has as much intlu-
ence as weight in determining how
much a horse will eat. We have
heard it said that horse will eat two
per cent of its weight in dry food daily
and at this rate horse weighing l.
200 pounds would require "a pounds
daily of provender.
The late Professor Dick found that
horse not working could he kept in
fair condition on l2 pounds hay and S
pounds oats but, where a good amount
of work had to be done it required IA
pounds of hay and IA pounds of grain.
Horses used for very fast work are fed
considerably more grain-as much as
lS pounds, or even twenty pounds
where they are continuously employed,
and have to be kept in prime cond-
tion.
Crushed or bruised corn IS more nu-
tritious, and therefore more economical
in horse feeding, than grain fed whole.
The most conclusive experiment on
this subject is that conducted some
years ago by the London omnibus COM
pany, who are the owners of some
5000 horses. One-half the horses
were confined to bruised oats and cut
hay and straw. while the other half
were fed on whole oats and long hay.
The ration allowed per day to each
horse on the first system, was bruised
oats, 16 pounds; cut hav, u pounds;
cut straw, p pounds. The allowance
on the whole system was: Unbruised
oats, 10 pounds; uncut hay, 13 pounds.
The money advantage in favor OF
bruised oats and cut hay was fully five
cents per day for each horse, equal to
$500 per day on the 5000 horses.
And this saving was accomplished
without any sacrifice of efficiency, for
all the drivers and those having charge
of the horses agreed that the difference
in the condition of the horses was de.
cidedly in favor Of those fed on
bruised oats and cut hay and straw.