ON STOCK FEEDING. No. 11.

Otago Witness, Issue 1640, 28 April 1883, Page 6

ON STOCK FEEDING. No. 11.

Perhaps the reason why the generality of farmers have so little regard for scientific considerations in connection with agriculture, is that they are so fully occupied with the more pressing and practical part of their business that they have little time as well as inclination to view their operations from a scientific standpoint. The average farmer may not be altogether wrong in confining himself to the strictly practical mode of operations — in fact, he may in some respects be altogether right ; for it would not, for example, be wise for a man who depends upon his farm for a living to enter upon an elaborate study of chemistry, with a view of testing his every-day work hy the scientific light thus acquired. He would probably gain just enough theoretical knowledge to be a hindrance rather than a help to him. It is easy to acquire a smattering of agricultural chemistry, but it is another i matter to make a practical use of the knowledge. It is only rarely that a man is met with who is capable ot combining practice with science ; but although the ordinary farmer cannot hopeto acquire sufficient scientific knowledge to prosecute original inquiries into tho nature of things, he should not turn a deaf ear to those who, by making such matters the study of their lives, are enabled to afford a speedy solution of • questions which the so-called practical man could only arrive at by a series of laborious experiments. The man of practice is inclined to undervalue the theorist, but it should be remembered that even the work of a ploughman is the practical application of a theory— an adjustment of cause to effect. Some of the deductions of science may be too fine-spun, and tho farmer may justly hesitate in applying them to his practical business ; but, on the other hand, there are some things, the result of scientific research, of which no farmer who makes any pretensions to advanced farming should be ignorant. Among this latter class are certain facts relating to the different kinds of food supplied to stock, the substances of which the food is composed, and their action upon the animal organism. This information may be gathered by anyone of ordinary intelligence from the various works which have appeared on the subject of scientific farming ; but as most of our farmers are busy men, and have perhaps not much time to. spare for consulting elaborate treatises, a few leading facts in a brief form may not be unacceptable.

The large percentage of water contained in the ordinary description of food supplied to animals will be a matter of surprise to those who are only acquainted with the outward appearance of those substances. The following table shows the quantity of water contained in some of the more common foods : — Meadow and clover hay, 14 # 3 to 16 per cent. Straw, 14-3 per cent. Dry grain of cereals, 14"3 per cent. Green fodder, 76 to SO per cent. MinKelwurzel, 88 to 00 per cent. Turuifis, 91 to 92 per cent.

Potatoes, 75 per cent.

The water chemically combined with the other constituents of food is in no respect different from that in the well or tho creek, and although a certain quantity is essential to the existence of animal or vegetable life, it will be seen that with regard to flesh or fat producing properties a large percentage of the ordinary food of stock is simple valueless. Though the turnip is considered such an excellent root for sheep, yet, according to the above table, only one-tenth of the crop is capable of adding to the live weight of an animal. It has been estimated that a bullock will consume daily lcwt to 2cwt of roots ; a horse, 28lb of hay, besides a fair allowance of oats ; a sheep out in the open field, 281b of roots— under shelter, 21lb. One pound of hay is considered equal in nutritive value to 61b or 71b of roots, 31b or 41b of corn, and lib of oilcake.

Soma years ago a number of very important and costly experiments were conducted by Messrs Lawes and Gilbert, which we mentioned in a previous article. The experiments were made with a view of ascertaining the fattening properties of different breeds of sheep, and extended over several years. The Leicester, Cotawold, and other breeds were chosen, and each experiment lasted from 20 to 26 weeks, on 40 sheep of each kind. To ensure impartiality, noted breeders were commissioned to select sheep which should fairly represent each kind. Tiie decision arrived at was that the amount of food consumed per head during a given time varied more with the weight of the animal than with the breed. Thus a sheep of one breed, 1001b live weight, was found to eat about half the quantity of food that a sheep of 2001b live weight, but of another breed, would consume. But considerable difference was found to exist in the uses to which the food was applied. It was found that to increase 1001b in live weight, a sheep will consume about 2801b of corn, 2701b of hay chaff, and 1$ tons of roots. A fattening sheep increases in live weight at the rate of about lib to every 81b or 91b of the dry substance of the food consumed, with moderate protection from the weather.

The few facts given above are well worth the attention of stockowners, as affording some standard or guide in feeding stock. Stockfeeding in this country is of necessity carried on in a very rough-and-ready manner, and is conducted entirely with a view to supplying the slaughter-house and the dairy, while the production of manure is not taken into consideration at all. With English farmers the manure is accounted an important item in the profits, and care is taken to supply the cattle with food that will produce the most fertilising manure. The value of manure from a ton of cotton-cake is four times that produced by a ton of some other foods, so that it pays the fanner to take this matter into consideration.