OATS AND MOLASSES AS CATTLE FOOD

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1533, 18 July 1901, Page 55

OATS AND MOLASSES AS CATTLE FOOD

It was px-incipally at the International Congress on cattle leeching, heici m the last weex in June, that the-question of muo ducing oats as food for cattle has at length been settled, gays A. "sSauson in tn© "Journal de I*Agriculture/* France. The recent article by Leon Martin has again drawn attention to the subject, as well as to that of molasses, and it would, perhaps, be useful to give some practical hints on the-two. At first one might think that saleable grain was meant/such as could be disposed of in the market. One writer assumed that, by giving this grain to the cattle, we should obtain a value equal to 28 francs per cwt. Others, recommending its use -in the form of bread or cooked grain, without specifying further details, made one also think that it referred 'to marketable grain. Under -these circum-* stances, I have thought it right to point out the economical error thus formulated, under The low current prices of grain. Now, there can be no doubt that it is decidedly not the marketable grain which can*be used advantageously for the feeding of farm animals, but only the refuse grain that which is left after a careful sorting. This "has no sale in the market except as food for poultry, and, when mixed with the other depreciates its value. We recognise that one "of the promoters proposing to introduce this small grain had a more important object in view than merely the feeding "of animals with it. His idea was to reduce the quantity of grain for sale, and by improving its quality, ffiaise the price. Without discussing this view, which may be regarded as Utopian, it is sufficient to merely mention the fact “that no one would pretend to use for cattle food a proper grain—that is, grain which can be sold to the miller as food for human “beings. On this understanding I have no serious objection to raise against the proposal. To tell the truth, I have not been able “to fix the increased value which fattened cattle may arrive at by consuming small grain. I have strong doubts on the 'correctness of the calculcu tions by the aid of which this has been pretended to be fixed. However, “it is quite possible that this value exceeds that which the grain merchants are willing to "pay for the grain, which, besides, is very difficult of sale. Leaving all this -aside, I have

merely desired to call attention to some 1 details, as I mentioned at the of this discussion. It is quite clear that there is no attempt to put the cultivator to the option between the sale of his grain on the markets at current ®rates and the consumption of this grain by his cattle.

under the pretext that when pricei very low this consumption would be mo*, advantageous to him. The piopoganda which I desired to oppose in the interests of practical truth was 'made on the occasion of a very heavy fall in prices, and might have been interpreted in that sense. To pass on to the use "Ox molasses. What the sugar manulacturexs wish to do by all possible means is to enlarge the sale of tlieir products and by -products. This is quite natural, and we can easily understand that they make use of all their knowledge of the laboratory to interpret -their views of this diree- . tion; but-this does not mean that those who have the interest of agriculture most at-heart should make it a duty .to second their efforts. Of the introduction of sugar, even when free of duty, in the practical food J of cattle, one may hardly think. We must be satisfied to confine ourselveg to molasses, which by its price would be accessible if The impracticable fiscal arrangements in Trance did not render it almost prohibitory to the majority of agriculturists. It must J also be taken into consideration that it is not precisely as food only that it can be used. Consider-* ing "the quantity which cattle can tolerate, and its composition, it is quite clear that it can only furnish a small portion of nutriment. 'Beyond a certain amount, it is difficult to digest, and that which is rich in nitrate of potash, which is generally the case, iskeally poisonous. Its real use is to act as a condiment in certain fodder for which the animals show little taste, when the addition of a small quantity of molasses not only persuades them to swailow the food by making it more agreeable to them, but it also facilitates digestion. It thus converts into useiul food that which without it would not be acceptable. Hence we can only recommend the use of molasses under conditions as stated, without considering the proper nutritious value, of which, so far, very few satisfactory data have been published. This is what M. Leon Martin perfectly understands when he takes care to say distinctly that he does not introdueue marketable, but refuse, grain into the rations of his cattle —that is, “the small grain obtained at"che farm by the careiui cleaning oi tiie com.” To the mixture of Hour resulting from the grinding of this small grain witn chaff, he adds SUO grammes of molasses to each ration. This corresponds at most to 250 grammes of sugar, which is too small a -quantity to be worth consideration, when compared with the full ration of a large beast, which would weigh at least ten kilos of dry matter. The author says, also, that he has only made use of the molasseg on account of the bad quality of the sti-aw which he had at his disposal. He adds that '‘the effect of this addition of molasses was immediate. Cattle and horses began to eat their rations greedily, and their 'taste for the mixture had not diminished at the end of three months/* Therefore, it is quite clear that in this case the -molasses acted as a condiment, and not as a real nutritious food. The use of it as a condiment would give ample satisiaction to the manufacturers of sugar, by giving them 'a new market for moiasses besides that required for distilling, without necessitating its use as more than doubtful -food, as we have already mentioned that the cattle would only consume a small quantity without inconvenience. The indisputable utility of this condiment quite justifies to him the strong complaints which, are made from all parts concerning “the almost insurmountable difficulties which the Excise Commissioners oppose to the introduction of molasses on farms, in order to guard -“against possible frauds, which are to a great extent imaginary. M. Leon Martin “uses proven-der-composed of a mixture of flour, chaff, and molasseg for all the animals 'on the farm. For horses, it replaces oats and fodder in the pro-portion 'of one 'kilo of mixture for one kilo of oats. It must be mentioned that this 'only refers to farm, horses, which work at a slow pace. The nutritious value of the starches in question "can, without doubt, be considered equivalent to that of oats, for a medium quality of the latter, be it understood, as numerous analyses-have shown that there are enormous differences in the composi-* tion of oats. For instance, the protein vanes between 6.3 and-21.4 per 100. As » an average we may take 12 per 100, while that of wheat is 13.2. The horses which consume the flour from the small com can thus be equally well nourished, weight for weight, as with oats of a medium quality. But this does “not mean that a complete substitution can be made without inconvenience in all cases; but in M. Martinis "caS3, however, according to all economical rules, we can only approve of it. I have known for a long time farms where oats have not been used for -horses, even for those which run in vehicles in the 3 suburbs of Paris. The substitution of concentrated and cheaper food has, to my knowledge, not caused any change in the condition of the horses or in the execution of their work, but has resulted in a considerable saving in -the cost of their feed, which was the object in view. It would -be very different with hordes working at high speed in carriages or light vehicles. Notwithstanding that several authors soek to promote an erroneous impression, we must repeat that the work of these horses suffers considerably when o-ats are not given. "In consequence of their peculiar neuro muscular system, when deprived of oats in our climate, they show themselves languid and inactive, and the whip has to be constantly resorted to. This hag been a popular observation from time immemorial, and I have established the fact scientifically, and given incontestable "experimental reasons for it. Numerous substitutes have been tried, with great economical advantage, in the stables of the large carrying firms in “Paris, but nowhere, to my knowledge, have they dared go far to do without “oats altogether. The omnibus horses, for instance, receive in their daily rations from 4 To 5 kilos of oats, corresponding to the number of working hours. What I want to insist on, as addressing principally agriculturists using farm horses, ig that for these it is not necessary to supply oats. They

can do their work quite as well, and perhaps better, when given other concentratwd"food whiclf®bontains protein at a lower price. This would be a fit occasion to discuss the system of valuing food according to its "nutritious units, taking for basis the price of hay, an idea adopted by Julius Kuhn, the merit of which I appreciate while showing how little it agrees with the real facia.