The sun., 1897-11-14
'Kgs&
ARARM.F0gGD
2R HNb GARDEN
FEEDING NEW CORN.
Being Difficult to Digest, Much II Wasted
Grinding the Corn.

Being Difficult to Digest, Much Il Wasted.
Grinding the Corn.
Much Of the corn crop this year will
be soft 1t will be what farmers call
new corn until freezing dries out its
surplus moisture. Yet the hogs have to
be fattened for slaughtering in Decem-
ber or January, and there will have to
be good deal of it fed out without dry
ing to cows and other stock American
Cultivator has the following to say on
the subject Of feeding new corn:
Probably the COW can get more good
out of soft corn than any other farm an
imal. She will bring it up and remasti-
cate it, insuring partial digestion if she
has not had all overfeeding of corn, for
it must be remembered that all corn is
hard to digest, and when it is full of
moisture it is more SO than ever.
Grind tho corn, even if into coarse
bits, and it is made much more easy to
digest. When fattening hogs are fed
fine corn meal, some of it will go
through them undigested but when
new corn is fed to stock the part that
fails to digest is much greater. 1t is
very hard to grind new corn. The mois-
ture in it makes the grain stick to the
grinding apparatus. But if some well
dried oats, corn or barley are mixed
with the corn not yet dried out it will
grind much better. When it is desired
to grind corn on the cob, the trouble is
that the cob breaks into large pieces, i'll
stead of being ground as it should. But
if whole grain of any kind is mixed
with the ears SO as to fill the vacant
spaces the cob will grind perfectly. For
feeding cows and other horned cattle
there is an advantage in grinding corn
in the ear. The ground cob makes the
nutriment less concentrated and it di-
gests better.
As new soft corn is usually fed to
hogs, great part Of it's nutrition is
wasted 1t is SO much harder to digest
than the same corn after it has dried,
that it is much better to feed sound corn
if 1t can be had and reserve the soft
corn until it dries out by freezing. There
is great shrinkage during this drying
out process, but there is more fattening
quality in the smaller quantity than
there is III the larger.
Corn is almost universally fed while
it is full of the juices Of the stalk and
cob If the feeding Of the crop were
spread out during the whole winter, in
stead of being confined to fall and one
of the winter months the gain from
feeding it would be far greater than it
is. Much of the larger part OF this sea-
son $ corn crop will be fed to hogs, cat
tie and sheep between now and next
January or February at furthest. 1t is
done to hurry up the fattening, but ow-
ing to the indigestibility of new corn
much of it is wasted. The pork and
beef thus made are neither SO palatable
nor 50 healthy as the same would be If
hogs and cattle were fed from their ear
licst period sufficient to keep them i'll
thrifty and growing condition. 1t is the
common practice of wasting new corn
during the fall aud winter months that
makes this impossible. A small amount
| of grain given while animals are at
yrass in summer will produce far more
! flesh and of better quality than a
much larger quantity fed as wastcfully
us new corn usually Is.