The National tribune., 1892-08-04
OUR ko.}AL TOPICS.
Some Practical Suggestions for Our
Agricultural Readers
AN EXPERIMENT IN YEkDIse HORSES.


Bulletin No. Is of the Agricultural Expert
mept Station of Utah reports the results OF a
feeding trial of horses by the Director. J. W.
Sanborn, a trial in direction that our expert
ment. station literature is almost silent upon.
viz the feeding horses hay and grain mixed,
and fesding cut against whois hay to horses.
1t is a common belief with horsemeu that
whom grain, especially meal, and more sspec-
tally such meal cornmcaI, is fec to horses
alone or mixed with hay it tends to compact
in the stomach and produce indigestion. It IS
believed that it so far compacts tina. the gastric
juices do not have free access to the mass of it
Furthermore. it is believed to be subject more
to the washing influence Of heavy drinking.
In the latter respect it is known that the horses
stomach is very small and that grain is liable
to be washed out Of it, as the stomach necessa-
rily overfows with water.
Prof. Sanborn fed two lots of horses for nearly
three months, one lot with hay and grain mix
ed. and the other lot with hay and grain fed
separately. At the end of this period the food
was reversed and the horses were fed some two
months more. 1t was found that horses, as in the
case of cattle and pigs, showed no disadvantage
by the division of the grain and hay into sepa-
rate feeds over feeding hay mixed with grain.
Indeed, in this trial he found q isadvantage for
the horses on the hay and grain mixed, they
not maintaining their weight as we'll. The
author ascribes this result to the fact that the
timothy hay when cut fine, with its sharp, solid
ends, irritated and made sore the mouths of the
horses and possibly induced too rapid eating
as when the hay and grain were moist they
would be more likely to eat more rapidly than
when fed dry. As this trial is in accord with
trials with rumnants and with che pig, Prof
Sanborn thinks that it seems quite probable
that the old and persistent argument in favor
of mixing hay and grain is not sound.
The second trial reported in this bulletin
covered feeding of cut against whole hay to
horses This trial also covered two periods in
which the foods were reversed with the sets in
order to determine whether any change of
weights found was due to the individualism of
the horses or whether it was due to the system
Of feeding. The two periods covered from Aug.
10 to Dec. 81. This trial was very decisively
in favor of the cut hay. The difference in
weight of horses was lis pounds in favor of cut
clover for the four months and half covered
by this period. The food fed was clover, and
the author points ont the fact that clover hay
and lucerne unlike timothy hay, do not pre-
sent sharp. solid, cutting edges. Prof. Sauborn
considers the results decisive and in accord
with those Of trial made by the Indiana Ex-
pertinent Station with cattle. He points out
the fact that these trials, covering nearly
years time with four horses, showed that
horses consume practically the same amount of
food that cattle do when high fed, and makes
it somewhat clear that horses make as econom-
zeal use of hay and grain as do cattle, and calls
attention to the fact that the practice of charg-
ing more for pasturage of horses where groom
ing is not involved is not we'll founded. He
also shows that less food was eaten during the
hot months than during the cooler months,
and particularly that the horses eat less grain
during the hot months than during the cooler
months.
The trial seems to show also that rather
large ration of grain for work horses is an
economical one.