The progressive farmer and the cotton plant., 1905-01-31
BY CHARLES WIN.
FEEDING HORSES.

balanced rations; and by this I mean we are not
careful enough to feed the "muscle-forming"
foods in proper proportion to the cheat and fat
forming" foods. 1t has been frequently mentioned
in these columns that for any animal to perform
its usefulness to the highest degree of efficiency,
1T must be fed feeding stuffs that will form both
muscle and produce energy. 1t is energy that
makes the muscles do their work. 1t is the pro-
TEN, as we call 1T, that goes to make lean meat or
muscle In the body, and at the same time supplies
the other imnortant tissues and constituents like
the internal organs, blood, nerves, skin, etc. The
feedin" of the "enerpy or heat formers" as they
are called, make fat for the body and heat in the
body as a result of this. This divides our feed
ing stuffs then into two classes: The muscle
formers and the heat-producers. Prominent
among the muscle kinds of food are cotton-seed
meal, wheat bran, wheat middlings, linseed oil
meal, cow-peas, etc. Among the heat-producers
are corn, timothy hay, crab grass hay, corn
slower, e~nsilage, etc. Now if the feeder selects
his feeding stuffs from the first group, he is feed
ing too much protein and consequently he wastes
a great deal of expensive material. If, on the
other hand, he feeds feeding stufs that come from
the second group he is feeding too much of the
fat-producers, and the animal gets too little of the
protein or muscle-forming materials, and hence
does not grow or perform it's work to the best ad-
vantage. For instance, when we feed the horse
corn and timothy hay we are getting both sub
stances from the latter group, anu IHe horse VII
not stand up under this kind of feeding to the
extent that he would were wheat bran substituted
for a part of the corn. or cotton-seed meal sub
stituted for a Fart of the corn, or cow-peas or any
other feeding stuffs that is relatively high in the
protein constituents.
Besides this, the unbalanced ration is unusually
nm extensive one.- Corn and timothy hay, in suf-
fcient Quantity to keep the animal in a normal
and staple form would be more expensive than
corn and wheat bran and timothy hay.
These fundamental principles should always be
kept in mind when feeding any class OF animals.
We have seen in feeding plants that the fertilizer
that carries phosphoric acid alone will not furnish
potassium or nitrogen. Likewise potassium pro-
viders will not furnish to the soil nitrogen and
phosphorus. And so we furnish three kinds OF
materials in our fertilizers when our soils are de-
6cient in all three kinds. 1t should be the same
plan in feeding our animals.
Now we are interested at this time of the wear
as TO what we shall feed our horses. The farmer
has a number of feeding stufs that are home
GROWN II is not necessary to send out OF our
State to purchase timothy hay, when we have at
home crab grass cow-pea hay and corn slower. IL
we have pea hay we can feed corn and do not neeo
to feed much bran or cotton-seed meal or pro'oIn
nroviders. If we have corn slower or crap grass
bav we ought to furnish some kind OF 1eedlng
stufs that does furnish protein, and we can 40
this by feeding two or three pounds OF bran daily
or a pound or two of cotton,seed meal IN conng
t;on with the corn slower. This will balance the
ration. and will furnish protein so as to supply
blood and the tissues of the body. We can iced
our horses very economically. during the winter
time. by feeding a small quantity OF corn II coan
slower and cotton-seed meal or BRAN. VI we can
keen them in good condition by feeding cow-pea