Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1907-04-16
Feed for the Working Horse.
PROPORTIONS OF GRAIN AND
HAY--CoRN SHOULD BE GROUND.

NJ. R., Philadelphia, Penn, writes
"Kindly publish in the columns Of your
paper a grain and hay ration for horse
weighing about 1900 pounds, travelling
about twelve or thirteen miles day,
pulling about one ton after him, that Is IL
say he starts out with that amount, but
as he goes along it decreases somewhat,
covering the distance with the load in
from five to six hours. would like to
know the best feed and what amount be
requires at each feeding and what
amount of hay to give. We feed him
three meals . day. We are feeding at
present six quarts of oats in the morn
ing, about ten quarts of mixed feed at
noon, consisting of cut hay, bran and
cornmeal; for supper about seven ears OF
cob corn ON the ear, and about twelve
pounds of hay. He is in perfect con-
dition, but / would like to know If we
are feeding too heavily or could l feed
less grain with just as good results; also
kindly publish feed ration for a horse
the same weight working every other
day."
A strictly cut and dried ration for a
horse can no more be laid down than it
can be for q man. All that can be done
is to lay down certain principles regard
ing the feeding of horses. Some have
the power to digest and assimilate more
than others and need more food than
others. Regarding the feeding of hay,
will say: When the hay is good quail
ity of mixed hay, what the horse will
eat in one hours time is far better rule
to follow than to weigh it out for him.
In city and town, as rule, the horse
scarcely ever gets quite hay enough and
on the farm he usually gets more than is
for his best good, or else it is OF an un-
marketable quality aud is hardly ut to
feed to the horse at all; yet, II fed in
quantities, 80 that he can pick it over,
he will get all he should have Of 1t in an
hours time, when the rest should be
taken away from him. AS to the grain
to be usually given ON ordinary labor to
the average horse, pound of grain for
every hundredweight of horse is the
rule. This is to constitute a full days
feed, and should be fed in three regular
feeds. Thus your horse weighing 1,3OO
pounds would need thirteen pounds OF
grain and four and one-third pounds at
each feed. Now if this horse was OF a
kind that is known as an easy keeper,
and of mild disposition, this, with what
hay he would eat in an hours time, will
keep him in good business condition. Ii
he was being hardly worked, he might
have for his night feed full six pounds
of grain or meal and what hay he would
clean up we'll before morning.
Now, as to kind of grain: Oats, two
parts, and corn, one part, ground into
meal, make the best all round grain feed
for a working horse. C0rnmeal and
wheat bran mixed equally by weight
come next. Your practice of noon feed
ing is not bad one. would, however,
make the cut hay of little greater bulk
and make the grain feed the corn and
oats as spoken of. That seven ear corn
on cob business / would cut out, and
feed the ground oats and corn or the
corn meal and wheat bran. While corn
on the cob is the safest way that clear
corn can be fed to horse, it is not the
best way by any means. First, the
horse never gets the full nutrients the
corn contains, as much OF it will pass
through the alimentary canal simply as
cracked corn with some of the albumep
taken out by the gastric juices. Ground
into meal and fed alone, it is always at
tended with danger. Therefore grind
all corn as a matter of economy and
mix it with bran or ground oats to give
it bulk and insure better digestion.
The horse worked every other day will
simply need about the same feed as the
one worked every day, only about one
third less grain on the idle days.-C. D..
Smead in Tribune Farmer.