FEEDING STRAW TO HORSES.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1858, 6 February 1880, Page 2

FEEDING STRAW TO HORSES.

f “ Adelaide Observer.”]

Farmers are generally slow in getting out of the old tracts, and it requires a deal of persuasion to induce them to adopt a different practice to that which they have been in the habit of following. The teachings of science and the lessons of experience as learned in other lands may he reiterated without avail, and it is only by the example of one or two of his more venturesome neighbours that the farmer is at last brought to recognise the advantages of new systems. No doubt a great deal of this hesitation is due to the interes s involved in a change of method, bat the question may fairly be asked whether a farmer is not open to some amount of blame for not attempting to conduct experiments upon a small scale when facts and arguments are placed before him. One of the most important of the recommendations made to farmers in these colonies is that with regard to the utilization of straw, which, if what has been stab d about it is true, would effect a very considerable change in the method of farming in South Australia. Instead of putting the firestick into the straw, it is urged upon farmers to gather and stack it for use in the cold wet months of early winter, when grass is generally so scarce and watery that the farm animals are unable to keep up their condition. Straw has been tried successfully in many parts of the world as fodder for cows, sheep, and horses, and in every case tae verdict has been strongly in favour of it. It is true that few animals prefer straw to other fodder, because it is generally dry and hard, with very little sweetness to commend it to their taste ; but where they are not allowed a choice it is found that it is natritrions, and with the addition of bran or meal or crushed grain they will even get fat upon the food. The practice is to feed it in small quantities at first, chaffed in the usual way, but with the addition of about a quart of meal or bran, and sometimes a little salt, to each bushel of straw. A great point is not to give more than will be eaten up at one meal ; if more is given the animal will turn against it. If the crop is cut before the straw gets dead rips the fodder will be richer and more liked ; but this is a practice which is almost impossible with those who use the header and thrasher. By using straw for horsefeed the hay can be saved for the cows, which will certainly give more milk upon a hay fodder than upon one of straw; and thus the horses will turn out in the spring with their full strength and vigour, and the cows will neither fall off in condition nor in yield of milk. For each horse a manger should he set apart holding about half a bushel of the chaffed straw mixture, and this quantity and no more should be given three times a day regularly. This is another point to which particular attention should be given. The farm animal requires to be fed with the greatest regularity, and a careful attcndanca to this rule will be followed by marked results. It is of no u<=e to give animals large quantities of food if they are not fed at regular intervals. If horses are fed at stated times they will always be in good condition for work. Moreover, if they are regularly fed animals will not he apt to eat rapidly, and thus injure their dig. stive organs, nor will they feed so ravenou -ly as to overload their stomachs. Thus the expense of the horse doctor will be saved, and instead of having a gaunt, ill-conditioned, and perhaps bid-tempered animal to drive, the owner will find his horse always willing for work and in good health and condition. Attention to these matters will in the end prove a great economy to farmers,