Rensselaer Union, Volume 10, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 September 1878 — feeding Horses New Hay and Oats. [ARTICLE]

feeding Horses New Hay and Oats.

Tiie question whether horses are injured by being fed on now hay andfresh oats has been mado a subject of investigation by a French Military Commission, who have been experimenting upon cavalry regiments. The results or the experiments prove that the health of the horses was not essentially injured by new hay if they rcoeived the ordinary regulation ration along with other fodder. Sorho animald were at iirst rather less active and more quiet, they sweated more freely, and the excrements were somewhat softened; but in a short time this ceased. In general. the horses ate tho new hay more willingly than the old. They retained the same strength and corpulence as before. Tho hair kept bright, the health perfook Of 150 horses from four to thirteen years old, with which the experiments were instituted, thirtyseven gained in fatness, and eighteen in strength and endurance. Only eighteen lost flesh, and eight lost strength, while seventy-nine remained unchanged. A second series of experiments upon 150 horses gave the same results. On the other hand, another series of experiments was less successful, wnero seventy-four horses, from four to thirteen years old, wore fed exclusively with new hp.y, the quantity being increased until it equalled the regulation rations of old hay, straw and oats together.. On this feed there was no real sickness, but a general weakness, frequent sweats, loss of appetite, digestion disturbed, diarrhoea, relaxation of the muscles, weariness, etc. Tho decision of the Commission was that new hay can replace old hay in the regular rations without injury, and perhaps with advantage, but that to feed them exclusively on new hay is injurious to the horses. Experiments were mado upon 1,800 horses by feeding them on * new oats, anil were attended with favorable results, inasmuch as the animals nearly all increased in bulk and strength, from which the Commission concluded that new oats can be substituted for old ones with advantage, and hence it is useless to wait two months after the harvest before permitting the use of new oats. These experiments refute most positively tho prejudice that still prevails in many places against feeding new hay and oats to horses,—Qnthe ether hand, it cannot be denied that horses to which new hay is given are frequently exposed to colic. The danger is only present, then, when the horses receive no definite rations, but have put before them as much as they can eat. In this case they not only eat much more new hay, but they also eat much more eagerly and greedily, which can be so much more injurious, as experience proves that those very horses which are most inclined to the colic eat most greedily. —lndustrie Blatter.