The Stock-Feeder's Manual Part 16

As compared with white turnips, the nutritive value of oat-straw stands very high, for whilst the former contains but little more than 1 per cent. of flesh-formers, and less than 5 per cent. of fat-formers, the latter includes about 4 per cent. of flesh-formers, and 13 per cent. of fat-formers. Again, whilst the amount of woody fibre in turnips is only about 3 per cent., that substance const.i.tutes no less than 60 per cent.

of oat-straw. In comparison with hay--taking into consideration the prices of both articles--oat-straw also stands high, as will be seen by comparing the following a.n.a.lyses of common meadow hay with that of properly harvested straw:--

Meadow Hay. Oat Straw.

Water 1461 1400 Flesh-forming const.i.tuents 844 617 Respiratory and fatty matters 4363 1563 Woody fibre 2716 5996 Mineral matter (ash) 616 424 ------ ------ 10000 10000

Woody fibre is as abundant a const.i.tuent of the straw of the cereals as starch is of their seeds, and if the two substances were equally digestible, straw would be a very valuable food--superior even to the potato. At one time it was the general belief that woody fibre was incapable of contributing in the slightest degree to the nutrition of animals, but the results of recent investigations prove that it is, to a certain extent, digestible. In the summer of 1859 two German chemists, Stockhardt and Sussdorf, made a series of experiments, with the view of ascertaining whether or not the cellulose[30] of the food of the sheep is a.s.similated by that animal. The results of this inquiry are of importance, seeing that they clearly prove that even the hardest kind of cellulose--_sclerogen_, in fact--is capable of being a.s.similated by the Ruminants. The animals selected were two wethers, aged respectively five and six years. They were fed--firstly, upon hay alone; secondly, upon hay and rye-straw; thirdly upon hay and the sawdust of poplar wood, which had been exhausted with lye (to induce the sheep to eat the sawdust, it was found necessary to mix through it some rye-bran and a little salt); fourthly, hay and pine-wood sawdust, to which was added bran and salt; fifthly, spruce sawdust, bran and salt; sixthly, hay, pulp of linen rags (from the paper-maker), and bran. The experiments were carried on from July till November, excepting a short time, during which the animals were turned out on pasture-land, to recover from the injurious effects of the fifth series of experiments--produced probably by the resin of the spruce. The animals, together with their food, drink, and egesta, were weighed daily. The amount of cellulose in the food was determined, and the proportion of that substance in the egesta was also ascertained; and as there was a considerable discrepancy between the two amounts, it was evident that the difference represented the weight of the cellulose a.s.similated by the animals. In this way it was ascertained that from 60 to 70 per cent. of the cellulose of hay, 40 to 60 per cent. of the cellulose of straw, 45 to 50 per cent. of the cellulose of the poplar wood, 30 to 40 per cent. of the cellulose of the pine, and 80 per cent. of the cellulose of the paper pulp was digested.

In stating the results of his a.n.a.lyses of the straws, Professor Voelcker sets down as "digestible" that portion of the cellulose which he found to be soluble in dilute acids and alkaline solutions; but he admits that the solvents in the stomach might dissolve a larger amount. The results of the experiments of Stockhardt and Sussdorf prove that 80 per cent. of the cellulose of paper (the altered fibre of flax) is a.s.similable, and it is, therefore, not unreasonable to infer that the cellulose of a more palatable substance than paper might be altogether digestible.

The facts which I have adduced clearly prove that the straws of the cereals possess a far higher nutritive power than is commonly ascribed to them; that when properly harvested they contain from 20 to 40 per cent. of undoubted nutriment; and lastly, that it is highly probable that their so-called indigestible woody fibre is to a great extent a.s.similable.

The composition of cellulose is nearly, if not quite, identical with that of starch, and it may therefore be a.s.sumed to be equal in nutritive power to that substance--that is, it will, if a.s.similated, be converted into four-tenths of its weight of fat. Now as cellulose forms from six-tenths to eight-tenths of the weight of straws, it is evident that if the whole of this substance were digestible, straws would be an exceedingly valuable fattening food. When straw in an unprepared state is consumed, there is no doubt but that a large proportion of its cellulose remains unappropriated--nay more, it is equally certain that the hard woody fibre protects, by enveloping them, the soluble and easily digestible const.i.tuents of the straw from the action of the _gastric juice_. I would, therefore, recommend that straw should be either cooked or fermented before being made use of; in either of these states its const.i.tuents are far more digestible than when the straw is merely cut, or even when it is in the form of chaff. An excellent mode of treating straw is to reduce it to chaff, subject it to the action of steam, and mix it with roots and oil-cake or corn. Mr.

Lawrence, of Cirencester, one of the most intelligent agriculturists in England, cooks his chaff, which he largely employs, in the following manner:--"We find that, taking a score of bullocks together fattening, they consume, per head per diem, 3 bushels of chaff mixed with just half a hundred-weight of pulped roots, exclusive of cake or corn; that is to say, rather more than 2 bushels of chaff are mixed with the roots, and given at two feeds, morning and evening, and the remainder is given with the cake, &c., at the middle day feed, thus:--We use the steaming apparatus of Stanley, of Peterborough, consisting of a boiler in the centre, in which the steam is generated, and which is connected by a pipe on the left hand with a large galvanised iron receptacle for steaming food for pigs, and on the right with a large wooden tub lined with copper, in which the cake, mixed with water, is made into a thick soup. Adjoining this is a slate tank of sufficient size to contain one feed for the entire lot of bullocks feeding. Into this tank is laid chaff, about one foot deep, upon which a few ladles of soup are thrown in a _boiling state_; this is thoroughly mixed with the chaff with a three-grained fork, and pressed down firm; and this process is repeated until the slate tank is full, when it is covered down for an hour or two before feeding time. The soup is then found entirely absorbed by the chaff, which has become softened, and prepared for ready digestion."

A cheap plan is to mix the straw with sliced roots, moisten the ma.s.s with water, and allow it to remain until a slight fermentation has set in. This process effectually softens and disintegrates, so to speak, the woody fibre, and sets free the stores of nutritious matters which it envelopes. Some farmers who hold straw in high estimation, prefer giving it just as it comes from the field; they base this practice on the belief that Ruminants require a bulky and solid food, and that their digestive powers are quite sufficient to effect the solution of all the useful const.i.tuents of the straw. It may be quite true that cattle, as a.s.serted, can extract more nutriment out of straw than horses can, but that merely proves the greater power of their digestive organs. No doubt the food of the Ruminants should be bulky; but I am quite sure that cooked or fermented straw is sufficiently so to satisfy the desire of those animals for quant.i.ty in their food.

So far as I can learn, all the carefully conducted feeding experiments to test the value of straw which have been made, have yielded results highly favorable to that article. Mr. Blundell, in a paper on "The Use and Abuse of Straw," read before the Botley (Hampshire) Farmer's Club, states that in his experience he found straw to be more economical than its equivalent of roots or oil-cake, in the feeding of all kinds of cattle:--

I find (says Mr. Blundell) that dairy cows, in the winter months, if fed on large quant.i.ties of roots, particularly mangels and carrots, will refuse to eat straw almost entirely, and become very lean; but they will always eat a full portion of sweet, well-harvested straw, when they get a small and moderate allowance of roots, say, for an ordinary-sized cow, 15 lbs. of mangel three times per day, the roots being given whole, just in the state they come from the store heap. Again, calves and yearlings being fed with roots in the same way, will eat a large quant.i.ty of straw, and when they have been kept under cover I have had them in first-rate condition for many years past. Also, in fattening beasts, when they get a fair allowance of roots, say 65 to 70 lbs. per day, with from 3 to 4 lbs. of cake or meal in admixture, they will eat straw with great avidity, and do well upon it, and make a profit. It is, however, often the case that bullocks receive 100 lbs., or upwards, of roots per day, with a large quant.i.ty of cake or meal, often 10 or 12 lbs. per day; they will not then look at straw, and are obliged to be fed with hay. The cost price of these quant.i.ties and kinds of food stands so high that the animals do not yield a profit; for although they may make meat a little faster, yet the proportionate increase is nothing compared to the increased cost of the feeding materials used.

Mr. Blundell gives us also the tabulated results of one of his experiments, which prove that by the use of straw there is to be obtained something more than manure by the feeding of stock:--

COST OF FEEDING AN OX PER WEEK WITH STRAW, ETC., ACCORDING TO MR. BLUNDELL.

s. d.

4 lbs. of oil-cake per day, or 38 lbs. per week, at 10 per ton 2 6 64 lbs. of roots ditto, or 4 cwt. ditto, at 13s. 4d. ditto 2 8 20 lbs. of straw feeding, or 1-1/4 cwt. ditto, at 30s. ditto 1 10-1/2 20 lbs. of straw litter, or 1-1/4 cwt. ditto, at 15s. ditto 0 11

Attendance, &c., per week 0 1 ---------- 8 0-1/2 Deduct value of manure, per week 1 3-1/2 ---------- 6 9 Increased value of ox per week 10 0 Deduct cost of feeding 6 9 ---------- 3 3

If we now turn to the study of the composition of straw regarded from an economic point of view, we shall find that the theoretical deductions therefrom harmonise with the results of actual feeding experiments. Let us a.s.sume that 100 parts of oat-straw contain on an average--

1 part of oil, 4 parts of flesh-formers, 10 parts of sugar, gum, and other fat-formers, and 30 parts of digestible fibre;

and if the price of the straw be 30s. per ton, we shall have at that cost the following quant.i.ties of digestible substances:--

ONE TON OF OAT-STRAW, AT 30s., CONTAINS:--

lbs.

[31] Oil 224 Flesh-forming principles 896 Sugar, gum, and other fat-forming substances 2240 Digestible fibre 6720 ------- 1,0080 [32] Total amount of fat-formers, calculated as starch 9520 Add flesh-formers 896 ------- Total amount of nutritive matter 1,0416

We shall now compare this table with a similar one in relation to the composition of linseed cake, which will place the greater comparative value of straw in a clearer light.

A fair sample of linseed-cake contains, centesimally--

Flesh-formers 26 Oil 12 Gum, mucilage, sugar, &c. 34 Woody fibre 6

ONE TON OF LINSEED CAKE, AT 11, CONTAINS:--

lbs.

Flesh-forming principles 5824 Oil 2688 Gum, sugar, and other fat-formers 7616 Woody fibre 744 ------- 1,6872 Total amount of fat-formers, calculated as starch 1,5080 Add flesh-formers 5824 ------- Total amount of nutriment 2,0904

These comparisons are very instructive and important. We learn from them that we pay 11 for 2,000 lbs. of nutriment, when we purchase a ton of linseed-cake, whereas, when we invest 30s. in a ton of straw, we receive 1,000 lbs. of digestible aliment. It cannot be said that I have strained any points in favour of the straw; on the contrary, I believe that when that article is cut in proper season and well harvested, its composition will be found far superior to that detailed in the comparative a.n.a.lysis. It must be borne in mind, too, that I take no account of the 30 per cent. of the so-called indigestible woody fibre which straw contains, and which, I believe, is partly a.s.similable under ordinary circ.u.mstances, and could be rendered nearly altogether digestible by proper treatment; on the other hand, I have a.s.sumed that the woody fibre of the oil-cake is completely digestible, although I believe it is in reality less so than the fibre of straw.

It is an important point in the composition of oil-cakes, that they contain a large proportion of ready-formed fatty matters which can, with but little alteration, be at once trans.m.u.ted into animal fat.

There are some individuals of the genus _h.o.m.o_ to whose stomachs fat, _per se_, is intolerable; nevertheless, as a general rule, fatty substances exercise a favorable influence in the process of digestion, and, either in a separate state, or intimately commingled with other aliments, const.i.tute a large proportion of the food of man. Digestion in the lower animals is, no doubt, similarly promoted by mixing with the aliments which are to be subjected to that process, a due proportion of oily or fatty matter. Straw is relatively deficient in the flesh-forming principles, and abounds in the fat-forming elements--of which, however, the most valuable, oil, is the least abundant. Now, if we add to straw a due proportion of some substance very rich in flesh-formers and oil, the compound will possess in nicely adjusted proportions all the elements of nutrition. Perhaps the best kind of food which we could employ for this purpose is linseed meal. It contains about 24 per cent. of flesh-formers, 35 per cent. of a very bland oil, and 24 per cent. of gum, sugar, and mucilage. Linseed-cake may be subst.i.tuted for linseed-meal; but the meal, though its cost is 15 per cent. greater, is, I believe, rather the better article of the two. Its flesh-formers are more soluble, and its oil thrice more abundant and far more palatable than the same principles in most samples of oil-cake. An important point, too, is, that linseed, unlike linseed-cake, is not liable to adulteration. As linseed possesses laxative properties it cannot be largely employed; the addition, however, of bean-meal--the binding tendency of which is well known--to a diet partly composed of linseed will neutralise, so to speak, the relaxing influence of the oily seed.

If oil-cakes be used as an adjunct to straw, rape-cake will be found more economical than linseed-cake. If it be free from mustard, well steamed, and flavored with a little treacle, or a small quant.i.ty of locust-beans, it will be readily consumed, and even relished, by dairy and fattening stock.

_Hay._--There is no food substance more variable or more complex than hay, for under that term are included, not only mixtures of gra.s.ses, but also of leguminous plants--clover, for example. The herbage of no two meadows is exactly alike; and the composition of the meadow plants is so greatly modified by differences of climate, soil, and mode of culture, that we have nothing to excite our wonder in the extreme variability of hay.

The composition of the hay made from clover, lucerne, and various other kinds of artificial gra.s.ses, is shown in the table--which is based on the results of Way's a.n.a.lyses:--

COMPOSITION OF THE HAY OF ARTIFICIAL GRa.s.sES.

+------------------------------------------- KEY: A.--Flesh-forming Substances.

B.--Fatty Matters.

C.--Respiratory Substances.

D.--Woody Fibre.

E.--Ash.

F.--Water.

-----------------------------+-------+------+-------+-------+------+----- A. B. C. D. E. F.

+-------+------+-------+-------+------+----- Trifolium pratense-- Red clover 1879 306 3706 1646 797 166 Trifolium pratense perenne-- Purple clover 1598 341 3535 2163 696 "

Trifolium incarnatum-- Crimson clover 1383 311 3125 2699 815 "

Trifolium medium-- Cowgra.s.s 2027 297 3030 2012 967 "

Do., second specimen 1564 398 4138 1570 664 "

Trifolium proc.u.mbens-- Hop trefoil 1707 389 3655 1888 694 "

Trifolium repens-- White trefoil 1563 365 3337 2211 857 "

Vicia sativa-- Common Vetch 1968 255 3287 2282 542 "

Vicia sepium-- Bush vetch 1923 240 2762 2587 821 "

On.o.brychis sativa-- Sainfoin 1538 251 3830 2059 656 "

Medicago sativa-- Lucerne 1063 230 3347 2851 842 "

Medicago lupulina-- Yellow clover 2050 338 2776 2266 903 "

Plantago lanceolata-- Rib gra.s.s 1191 306 3358 2756 723 "

Poterium sanguisorba-- Burnet 1396 334 3950 1989 664 "

Achillea millefolium-- Millefoil 862 209 3788 2724 750 "

+-------+------+-------+-------+------+----- Mean 1581 318 3442 2247 759 166 -----------------------------+-------+------+-------+-------+------+-----

Very many a.n.a.lyses of hay have been made by British and Continental chemists, the results of which are of great interest to the agriculturist. The composition of the natural and artificial gra.s.ses, which is shown in the tables given in pages 158-9 will, if we reduce their per-centage of water to 16, give us an approximation to the composition of hay. If the herbage, too, be sown in the proper time, and the hay-making process be skilfully conducted, there will be but little difference, except in the amount of water, between the plants in their fresh and dry state; but owing to inopportune wet weather, and carelessness in manipulation, excellent herbage is not unfrequently converted into inferior hay.

According to Dr. Voelcker, the average composition of meadow-hay, as deduced from the results of twenty-five a.n.a.lyses, is as follows:--

Water 1461 Flesh-forming const.i.tuents 844 Respiratory and fatty matters 4363 Woody fibre 2716 Mineral matter (ash) 616 ------ 10000

Dr. Anderson's a.n.a.lysis of meadow-hay, one year old, and of inferior quality, gave the following results:--

Water 1313 Flesh-forming matters 400 Non-nitrogenous substances 7761 Mineral matter 526 ------ 10000