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Show THE FARM. Feeding grain to stock. In taking up the subject of feeding grain to stock, and the benefit to be derived therefrom, I propose to treat the question under two heads; 1st, the feeding of grain, how and what kind; 2d, the benefit, if any to be derived therefrom. We, as a people, are blessed with an abundance of all kinds of grain. We have wheat, corn, barley, oats, rye, and buckwheat as staple crops. Wheat, on account of its more valuable qualities as food for mankind, is not much used as food for stock, although rich in all the elements required as food. Corn is truly one of the most valuable of the known grains. There is probably no grain grown and fed in so great a quantity as this. It is fed to all kinds of stock, and is also much used in the human family, in a great variety of ways. Barley stands next to wheat in all the elements required in grain. Of oats, there can scarcely be too much said in their favor. They are rich in all the necessary elements of nutrition, and are used among the Scotch in particular, as an article of diet, and their hardy constitutions show that their choice is well made. They supply a horse with animal heat as well as great muscular power. Rye is very nutritive, and capable of supplying animal heat, but is inferior in muscle forming qualities. Buckwheat I consider the poorest grain we have, on account of its being nearly destitute of fat, sugar, and starch, of which the other grains are composed. The one redeeming quality in it is, it is tolerably supplied with salts. Having thus briefly touched upon the different kinds of grain in common use, we come to the conclusion that the staple grains for New England must be wheat, corn, oats, and barley; but leaving out wheat, as strictly an article of human food, it leaves us as the principal grains for stock, corn, oats and barley. The question that next presents itself is, How shall we feed to best utilize the grain, so as to derive the greatest benefit? I do not think I should ever feed grain whole. As I have a mill you will, perhaps, say I have a personal interest in the way of toll; but I have looked the matter over and tried both methods, and am firm in the belief that stock will derive the greatest benefit by grinding the grain into meal. A great deal is said and written upon the value of cooked food of different kinds for stock, and, I have no doubt that, with all the modern conveniences for the process, some kinds of stock, especially swine, would fatten more readily on cooked food, but the average farmer may think himself well off if he has the grain in the raw state. Some farmers, if they have a quantity of corn, will feed that and nothing else till it is gone, and then, if they have barley, it will be barley until gone; and so on, through the different kinds, using each separately. This would not be my method. I would have the grains thoroughly mixed and ground together; and let me say here, I know of no grains that I would sooner have than corn and oats, ground in equal parts, for any kind of stock which I wished to have put on flesh. Now, the question is, How shall we feed this grain, and to what shall we feed it? In the first place, grain, if fed at all, should be fed regularly. If it is your custom to feed in the morning, before feeding hay or whatever else you may feed, feed at regular hours. Most farmers in this vicinity keep dairy cows, and I [missing] good returns in the long run as a herd of good milch cows. We should keep just enough in number so that we can keep them in good condition; for it is poor economy to attempt to keep too many cows for the feed we have, as all experience will show that very little milk will come out of the bag that is not first put in at the throat. One good cow, well bred and well fed, will yield as much profit to the owner as two ordinary cows fed in the ordinary way. You cannot make a profit on your cows without the use of grain, you might as well expect your horses to do a heavy spring's work on hay alone, as to expect your cows to yield rich returns on the same food. Then, again, the profit from grain feeding does not stop here, for not only does the farmer enjoy the pleasure of having nice looking cattle, but he obtains a very choice article of butter, which, sent to market, brings a price that fully pays him for the extra feed. And again, the more abundant and rich the food given to stock, the better the fertilizers you receive in their manure. In former times it was thought that, to raise good corn, one must of necessity use manure from the hog pen. Why was this? Simply because the hog was fattened on grain, and the manure possessed more of the properties required to replenish the soil and produce the crop. We now raise just as good corn from our cow manure as from the hog pen, for the simple reason that our cows are fed as they should be. In connection with the well fed dairy we should always keep hogs enough to drink all the skimmed milk, and here we shall see the advantage of making good rich milk, for there is a certain part only of the milk, the fat used in making butter, the ?? or cheese, the pigs will get, and the richer the milk the less grain it takes with it to fatten them; and so we might go on from one class of stock to another and demonstrate the advantage of good feeding over that of the ordinary or old way.-Correspondence of New England Farmer. |