The Bozeman courier., 1926-01-22

4 81
Two 11-fOot and one 12-fOot drill |
seeding "a feet is a 16-horse load.
Feeding
In feeding the big teams, the farm
er is more interested in using the
cheapest serviceable feed at existing
prices than in feeding according to
.ironclad prescribed formula. The fol-
lowing represents some interesting
experiences Of large team farmers,
Mr.. Hallman has had experience in
feeding rye and oats. In the spring Of
1928, oats were about 60 cents for
a 32-pOund bushel, and rye was 60
cents for a 57-pOund bushel. Oats
are about 20 per cent hulls while
rye is all grain.
Mr.. Hallman had had successful
experience in feeding rye to work
horses, but in doing so he mixes it
with cut bronze grass hay or cut
straw, thereby overcoming the great
concentration of food, in rye. In
feeding, he first puts a shovel Of cut
hay into the feed box. Then he puts
about four pounds of rye, chopped.
on top of the cut hay, after which he
mixes it with his hands. (See Fig
ure 86). If he is working the team
hard, he will increase this to about
six pounds of chopped rye. If he has
bronze grass hay, he prefers to feed
this chopped, but if not, he uses
chopped straw. Mr. Hallman thinks
that the feed depends on the relative
prices of oats and other feeds and
upon the feeds he has on hand. His
experience has led him to the con
clusiOn that there is no danger from
heavy grain feeding when the above
mixture is used. There is danger of
Over-feeding rye, however, as it is a
heavy feed. Mr.. Hallman says that
/ if rye straw or any other kind of
Estraw is fed, more grain is necessary
than if straight hay is fed. He
turns his horses out on good bronze
grass pasture at night and finds that
this keeps them in fine condition.
Mr.. Noble states his experience as
! follows: cat NOblefOrd, we feed the
horses on such roughage as we have.
For two years we fed rye straw
straight for roughage. We have fed
corn and bran, mixed half and half,
during the time the horses were at
/ hard work. Have also fed One-third
oats, One-third corn and One-third
/ LulS
per feeding three times per day to
gOOd-sized work horses or mules. We
have used this, however, when feed
! ing straw only. We have worked the
! horses at the Cameron ranch entire
ly on rye straw when we didn't have
anything else. However, our animals
were all mature. We supplemented
pasture when we had it.
''I think that horses do better on
! good rye straw than on poor wheat
straw. We have had them leave me-
dunn to poor oat straw and eat the
clean rye straw. We prefer, howev-
er, to feed green oat hay mixed with
some straw, giving a bundle to each
| horse, with some straw in addition.
We plan each year on seeding about
40 acres to winter rye near the barn
of each farm unit. AS soon as the
rye gets big enough we let the horses
out at night to run on this pasture.
Of course, during this time they get
their regular grain feed and have
their rOughage in the barn. Our ex-
perience has been that our horses
have done very we'll and we get a
lot of good feed out of the rye pas
ture. We have had a good deal of
experience in feeding rye to horses
while working. Rye is our most de-
lpendable crop. We usually have a lot
of it even in poor years. like to mix
oats and rye half and half and grind
them together. I have a rolling and
crushing mill instead of the regular
grinder When the horses are run
ming on grass bran is not needed
The bran is used to get away from
the heaviness of the grain feed, es-
pecially when rye is used plentifullv
The grass supplies the same laxative
principle as is obtained in the bran
If you are working the horses or
grass, they are reasonably full in the
morning and will get along with g
light feed at noon. We try to gel
them on the grass as early in the
evening as possible"
Mr.. Gilchrist at Scobey, Montana
turns horses loose for watering a.
noon. They have not been fed hay
since 1915, but principally oats
wheat and rye. In 1920 they wer,
fed one-third rye and two-third
ground oats, together with oats anC
wheat straw. The horses stood tn,
work better than any other way the,
had tried.
t Mr.: Frank Cusker has fed hi
: horses soaked and ground macaron
wheat during the period when thi
type of wheat was cheap.