Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-11-22
CHANGE OF FOOD.


food. but no one would like to live on
it exclusively for any great length of
time. He would desire to have it
cooked in variety of ways if he were
obliged to subsist on it, and to have
butter, cheese or some sweet substance
to eat with it. The like is true in
relation to eating rice. corn or any
sort of grain. Their taste is insipid
and causes US to desire some condi-
ment relish or appetizer to impart
pleasant flavor. Cooks have found out
that there is economy in using spice,
pepper and great variety of sauces.
some of which are quite expensive, as
the use of them renders very cheap
and common articles Of food palatable.
The French. who know how to make
the most Of cheap meat. fish and bread.
use large number Of vegetable condi-
ments. In their gardens they raise
cress. radishes, peppers. celery. onions
and savory herbs, which they serve up
with ordinary dishes.
Stock-raisers seem to think that the
animals they feed do not require appe-
Tiers as human beings do. Some ap-
pear to believe that they do not even
need a change of food, and they do
not profit by it. They advocate giving
nothing to horses but oats and timothy
hay. They would restrict the food of
cows, sheep and hogs to the article
that agricultural chemists have pro-
nOunced the best for making milk.
flesh, fat and wool If these animals
could speak it is likely that they would
inform the workers in laboratories
that they had arrived at wrong con-
illusions. They would declare that
the results of their experience do not
coincide with the deductions of scien-
tifc investigators. Their actions.
which ''speak louder than words"
show that they prefer a variety of
food; that they have :. liking for
sweets, as children have, and that
they have a fondness for the things
we call relishes. A COW will go across
q pasture. we'll supplied with sweet
and tender grass, to get a bite of old
hay or straw. A sheep will leave
white clover to eat the leaves of q
bush. Mich COWS will chew bones
and hogs will eat soft coal. A city
horse can be tempted from a manger
of oats by the cabbage-leaves and
potato-peelings that are thrown into
the alley back of the stable. A horse
in the country will leave its accus-
toned feed for piece of sugar or an
apple. Hogs prefer garbage to corn
if they have been obliged to eat it for
long time. and will root over ground
to find worms. though their trOughs
be full of boiled potatoes.
The cravings of the appetite are
sure indications that animals desire
more kinds of food. II they are not
supplied with this they may become
uneasy and fall off in condition. The
more food animals eat and digest tho
faster they will gain. Condiments inn
part an agreeable favor to articles OF
food that are lacking IN taste. In
England it has been found that cattle
will eat straw in preference to the best
hay if little molasses or sweetened
water be sprinkled over it. Hogs fed
on corn as a principal article of food
will gain faster and have better ap-
petite if they are occasionally treated
to blood or coarse meat. Mich cows
can not be fed ON onions or other vege-
tables having strong taste. as they
will impart a bad flavor to the milk
they give. Steers and young cattle.
however. will derive advantage from
them. Cabbage and most kinds Of
roots possess greater feeding value
than an analysis of them shows. They
increase the appetite and aid the
process of digestion. Many have
noticed that farm animals do better
in a pasture that contains sew
eral kinds of grass than in one
seeded to single variety. When
strips arc sown to different grasses
cattle and sheep will leave one. after
feeding on it for some time, and go to
another. This should suggest to farm
ers the propriety Of having more kinds
of grass and clover in their moving
fields. Animals have fewer changes
of food in winter than during summer.
An effort should be made to furnish q
greater variety. Pumpkins. squashes.
cabbage, carrots, beets and turnips
are easily raised and relished by stock
fed principally on hay and straw. It
is likely that most farmers commit q
mistake in feeding out straw and corn
fodder continuously during the early
part of the winter and keeping all the
best hay till after the poorer food Is
disposed Of It may be q better plan
to give one feed day of each kind
throughout the cold season. Poor ap-
petite in farm animals should be treat
ed the same as in human beings. New
kinds of food should be substituted for
those things that are lacking in flavor
and difficult to masticate and digest
Raw food may be best for animals at
most times. but cooked ration may