Feeding of Working Horses.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 188, 22 January 1887, Page 4

Feeding of Working Horses.

Many of the sudden ailments to which horses in hard work are liable are no doubfc due to mistaken ideas with respect to the proper system of feeding. Some time ago Dr. C. E. Page wrofco in the Medical and j Surgical Journa l:—" The system of working ! or exercising 1 horses directly after eating, or feeding after hard work, and before they are thoroughly rested ; 'baiting at noon, when both these violations of a natural law are committed—thete are the predisposing causes of pink eye, and of most dieeases that aflcct our horses . Keep the horse quiet, dry, warm, and in a pure atmosphere, the nearer outdoor air the bettor, and stop his feed entirely at the first symptom of disease, and he will speedily recover. It has been demonstrated in tens of thousands of cases in family life that two meals are not only ample for the hardest and most exhausting labours, physical or mental, but altogether best. The same thing has been fully proved in hundreds of instances with hordes and has never in a single instance failed, after a fair trial, to work the best results. An hour's rest at noon is vastly ' more restoring to a tired animal, whether horse or man, than a meal of any sort, although the latter may prove more stimulating. The morning meal given, if possible, early enough for partial stomach digestion before the muscular and nervous i systems are called into active play ; the night meal offered long enough after work to insure a rested condition of th 6 body ; a diet liberal enough, but never exoessive ; this is the law and gospel of hygienic diet i for either man or Beast. I have never tried

to fatten my horses, for I long ago learned that fat is 'disease ; but I have always found that if a horse does solid work enough he will be fairy plump if he has two sufficient meals. Muscle is the product of work and food; fab may bel aid on by food alone. But for perfect heoith and immunity front disease, restriction of exercise must be met by restriction in diet. Horses require more food in cold than in warm weather, if performing the same labour. In case of a warm spell in winter I reduce their food, more or less, according to circumstances, ac surely as I do the amount of fuel consumed. I also adopt the same principle in my own diet. The result is that neither my animals nor myself are ever for one moment sick."

A Handsome Schedule of Prizes.— The day is yet for off, we fear, when we shall be able to draw attention in the columns of ThkNew Zealand Farmer to such dazzling possibilities of prize winning at a colonial cattle show us are open to British live stock breeders at the annual shows at Smith field, of which the last took place on December 6th to the 10th. The Agricultural Gazette points out that at this exhibition it was possible for a steer or ox to -win £210 ; a heifer or cow £205 ; a pen of sheep £85 ; and a pen of pigs £40. The individual prizes offered for sheep and cattle of the different breeds ranged from £5 to £25, and the champion plate for cattle was o£ the value of 100 guineas. Even for pigs first, second, and third prizes of £10, £5, and £3 were offered. Get the Best Blood.— We examined ahorse last week, says the Rural New Y&rker,th&b came as near our ideal of the perfect farm horse as we have seen. Broad and strong, gentle and kind, of a good colour, a willing worker, a fair roadster and with far more than the usual equine intelligence. The first reason her owner gave for her excellence was: "It cost 50dols. to sire her." There is a good deal in that remark. If you will think it over you will find that every first claes horse that you know of cost more money than the common horse. A 50 dollar colt is a 50 dollar colt, and a 5 dollar colt is a 5 dollar colt, every time. Back in the pedigree of every first-clasß animal will be found a good-sized service fee. We do not wish to be understood as saying that by simply paying a large service fee a farmer may consider himself sure to secure a good colt. We do mean that the service of a first-class, shapely, well-bred animal is worth ten times as much as that of a scrub. There is no law of nature that can enable scrubs to produce anything but scrubs. Breaking in Young Farm Horses.— Farmers sometimes leave a colfc running at large in the pasture till he is three or four years old, or until his presence is actually wanted in the team. Then a sufficient force is brought up, and he is " harnessed in " with steady old hoises, driiten a few days, and then brought down to hard work. This is the method of mere brute force, and though, energy and skill often bring colts into a reasonable subjection very rapidly, yet the advantages are strong on the side of the plan which gives more time fco the subject. Begin i) ing at an early age, the colt should be accustomed to the presence of persons about him ; then to be handled freely and accustomed to the human voice ; then to be led by the halter, which should be attached to & head stall ; lead him about every day ; reward him by kind words and more substantial benefits for aptitude in acquiring his successive lessons. Ensilage Competition in England.— They have an "Ensilage Society" in England which holds an annual competition at which prizes are awarded for the best samples o£ ensilage made from different specified materials. We think it is high time thafc colonial agricultural societies should recognise the value of ensilage as a feeding material by offering prizes for well made samples of it. As a guide to the committees of our Agricultural and Pastoral Societies \> c give a description of the schedule of prizes offered by the English Ensilage Society at its third annual competition held in December last at the Siuithfield Show. Prizes are offered iv twelve classes. For ensilage samples of meadow giass; ditto made in a stack— samples not to exceed 3 feet long by 1 foot wide and 1 foot deep, and to be so taken as to form a section of the stack 3 feet from and including the outside ; clover, red, white or alsike j rye grass alone or mixed with clovers ; grain crops — wheat, oats, barley, or rye ; maize ; tares, or any other leguminous plants ; hopbine ; brake or fern ; any other substance, not eligible to compete in the above classes* The prizes are £1, £2, £3, £5, and there is a champion cup, value £10, for the best specimen of ensilage sent for competition. Prizes of £5 are also offered for the most convenient and practicable mode of packing ensilage for market, and for models, plane, and methods of the most efficient and economical system of pressure for silos or stacks. Applying Soluble Manures. — In replying to a question as to when to apply soluble manures to a crop, a writer in the Agricultural Gazette says:— The answer generally is that readily solublo manures should be sown over plants during the season of growth. In detail we may adopt [ the words of Mr Bernard Dyer, and say as regards the application of artificial manure to autumn-sown wheat ' that all soluble nitrogenous manures like sulphate of ammonia and nitrates should be avoided for autumn use, and applied only in the spring as top-dressings, for their retention through the winter is next to impossible in the case of nitrate, and improbable in the case of sulphate of ammonia. Moreover, in the autumn they are not wanted. Soma pbosphatic manure is the only artificial that should be sown with wheat— suf erphoa* phate on all land that is not markedly poor in lime ; a mixture of superphosphates with bone dust or ground coprolite on land, particularly whitish land, that is poor in lime. If superphosphate alone is used, the dressing may be 3 cwt per acre ; if a mixture, say 2 cwt superphosphate and 3 cwfc bone dust or ground coprolites. Grass lar.d that is to he " boned " should be boned in the autumn, in order that the bone-dust, may wash well into the soil by aid of the winter's rain, and kainite or other potash salts may be applied to grass just before winter, in preference to spring time. , Land , • intended for potatoes next season, particus larly if poor in potash, should be dressed in, kainite in November (May N.Z.), this course being preferable to applying it with tha other manures at the time of planting. There is no fear, on any ordinary land, that the potash will be lost or washed out of* reach like soluble nitrogen, for soils retain, it tenaciously.