STRAW & MOLASSES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 January 1939, Page 3

STRAW & MOLASSES

MIXING FOR ROUGHAGE. PRACTICE IN BRITAIN. Much straw that is now wasted could be profitably utilised by mixing it with molasses and feeding it to Stock. The proper use of straw for fodder .purposes is to help make up the maintenance portion of the ration, the productive portion being made up of other foods which are more concentrated and more digestible. Wheat straw has the lowest value of any ofthe straws. Its stiff and elastic nature also makes it less palatable than other straws, but these properties cause it to absorb liquids more effectively and make it the best of all straws for litter.

Barley straw has considerably greater feeding value than wheat straw, and, excepting for the awns, is more palatable. Its softness and lack of elasticity make it a less effective absorbent of liquids, and it is therefore not so good for litter. Oat straw is more palatable and more readily eaten by stock of all kinds than any other cereal straw.

Live stock can be induced to eat straw by chaffing or cutting up and mixing ground grain, mill feed, silage, pulped roots, or molasses to give it a flavour. British farmers who feed straw extensively generally chaff or cut up the straw or other coarse roughage in the afternoon to form a supply for the following day. If they have silage they mix it with chaffed straw and sprinkle ground grain feed over it, leaving it to stand in a pile until morning. They grow vast quantities of mangolds and turnips, which they pulp and mix with the straw, adding some grain, and let it stand in a barn for 12 to 15 hours where it will not freeze, before feeding. In other cases they take cheap feeding stock molasses and place a little in the bottom of a pail and put enough hot water over it-to make it all sweet in taste. They sprinkle this ovei’ the straw and let it stand in a heap for 12 or more hours before feeding. In each case the flavour permeates the entire mass of feed and the animals will eat it with relish.