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. HORSE SPECIAL .
A Farm and Home Weekly for the Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia.
PROGRESSIVE FARMER VOL. XXI. NO. 46.
THE COTTON PLANT VOL. XXIII. NO,"45.
RALEIGH, N. C, JANUARY 3, 1907.
Weekly: $1 a Year.
THE RIGHT WAY TO FEED A HORSE.
Elsewhere in this number of The Progressive
Farmer we have taken up the question of what
to feed your horse; right- now let us see how you
can save money by the right manner of giving this
feed to "Old Charley."
You doubtless know some man, who, when he
went to "the stable in the morning to feed his horse,
reasoned something like .this: "I am going to
drive Charley fifteen miles to town this forenoon,
and as he is a farm horse, he is not accustomed
to road work, and it will be harder for him; there
fore, I will give him a little extra feed this morn-
in
Don't Overfeed Prior to Hard Work.
It is .not unusual for a horse fed in this way
to begin to "scour" when half way to town, and
on reaching town develop a case of colic. How
should this man have reasoned? This would have
been more rational- I a ingoing to compel Char
ley to do more work than usual with his muscles
this morning; hence, he cannot d6 as much with
his stomach, and I will, therefore, feed him less
than usual. But some one says: "That won't do,
if you are going, to work a horse you must feed
him." I agree with that, but we must remember
that the feed Charley eats this morning is not go
ing to be digested and get into his blood in time
-to help him; do this aftjjon's work, Then, why
feed him anything ihisorning?. It would be in
finitely better to feed him nothing rather than
over-feed him better to leave the corn in the crib
than in Charley's stomach if he cannot digest it.
But Charley is accustomed to getting a feed in the
morning arid we must give him a little to prevent
this weak, "gone" feeling which .comes from go
ing without breakfast. But a little feed will; do
this, and it is, therefore, in no sense advisable to
give him a full feed.
In fact, never give a horse a full feed on a
change of work, nor a change of feed on Ji'ard
work. This rule should never be forgotten.
. It Pays to Feed Regularly. ' -
Again, I have known men who had a headache
if tbey did not get their meals on regular time. 1
have also known men who, if they went home to
dinner, and it wasn't ready, would raise a racket
with the madam about it, and yet, these very same
men are likely to feed their horses at 4.30 this
morning, 5 to-morrow morning - and 5.30 or 6
o'clock the next morning. They apparently forget
that such irregularity may give the horse or mule
a headache make him sick. But if it does not
make the horse sick it wastes feed. For those
practical, men who weigh the feed and the horses
have found that of two horses working in the same
team, therefore, doing practically the same work,
the one fed regularly and the other irregularly,
the one fed regularly will keep in the same condi
tion on less feed, or in better condition on the
same feed. ,
How You Make Your Horse Have Colic.
There is not a man among my readers who likes
to eat a big meal and immediately do hard work:
yet we feed our horses large quantities of hay and
grain and at once put them to hard physical la
bor. If we eat heartily, and then work hard im
mediately after it not only makes us feel uncom
fortable but may actually make us sick. It also
does, the same forrhe horse. Why? Simply be
cause if we force an" animal to do hard work with
his muscles, a. larger quantity of blood must go to
those, muscles, and, therefore, less can go to his
siomacn, ana indigestion ana colic iollow as a
natural consequence if his stomach is over-full.
Let me show this to you by calling your atten
tion to one other point: When do bur cases of
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Courtesy Rural Magazine.
IDEAL FARM HORSES, DEEP CHEST, GOOD WIND.
Some of our readers are interested in cotton, sonie
grain but all are interested in horses. Whatever crbp
he must have; and so all sorts and conditions of farmers
this week's paper.
colic develop? Did you ever know a case to de
velop in a horse or mule before breakfast? He
may have been sick all night; but if he remained
well until morning the case of colic did not de
velop before breakfast. When does colic usually
occur? From 9 to 11 o'clock in the forenoon, 3 to
5 o'clock in the afternoon, or just after dark at
night. Now, after an opportunity to stifdy and ob
serve these matters quite closely for the last
twenty year's, I am convinced that more farm
horses and mules die during the summer, from
colic than from any other half-dozen diseases com
bined, and I am further convinced, that ninety
nine out of every one hundred of these cases of
colic are the result' of injudicious feeding and
working. In other ; words, they might be pre
vented. ' ,'"
Obsei-e These Simple Rules.
The question arises, then, How should we feejd?
I cannot lay down rules that will be found accept
able on every farm, for conditions vary, but I will
state the way I believe the- hard-working farm
horse ought to be fed, and if this be done, t will
loosen the number of cases oi; colic and increase
the efficiency of our farm work stock.
When the hard-working horse is brought into
the stable at night, tired an worn,' he should not
be given any feed for half an hour. He may then
be given all the hay he is to receive during the
twenty-four hours. An hour later he should be
given his grain. If he"is to receive fifteen pounds
during the twenty-four hours, -give, him seveu
pounds at night. If this is too much trouble, then
allow the animal to eat hay for from one-half to
three-quarters of an hour after being put into the
stable before feeding the grain. If either of these
plans is adopted, feed the. horse all his hay and
seven pounds of grain at night, four pounds of
tobacco, some truck, some cattle, some
the' farmer grows or doesn't grow, horses
will be interested in the special articles in
.1
grain jin the morning and four pounds at noon;
but if j:he horse is fed as soon as put in stall, then,
.while 'jSI would still feed all the hay at night, I
vvouldnot feed more than one-third the grain.;
TAIT BUTLER.
SOIJTH CAROLINA FARMERS' INSTITUTE
I, . VHEDULE. e . ' : ' ; .
South Carolina Farmers' Institutes are an
nounced for the following times and places:
Leesyille, January 4th; Ridgespring, January
5th ; Johnston, January 7th; Graniteville, January
8th; Montmorenci, January 9th; Williston, Janu
ary loth; Blackville, January Hth; Springfield,
January 12th; Barnwell, January 14th; Allen
dale, January 15th; Hampton, January 17th;
Beaufort, January 18th; Meggett, January 19th;
Young'! islanc January 21st; Summerville, Janu
ary i2 4th; St. George, January 25th; Branchville,
Januar 26th; Orangeburg, January 28th; St.
Matthews, January 2 9th ; Sumter, January 30th;
Manning, January 31st; Foreston, February 1st;
Georgetown, February 2nd; Kingstree, February
'4th; Lake City, February 5th; Florence, Febru
ary 5tb; Marion, February 7th; Wanamaker, Feb
ruary 8th; Homewood, February 9th; Conway,
Februat-y 11th; Darlington, February 12th; Harts
Mlle. February 13th; Cheraw, February f 14th;
Chesterfield, February 15th. .
We lope that Progressive Farmer readers wit
co-operate with the Institute workers in everj
possibl way in making these Institutes success
ful. j They mean much for better farming.
Don't say -things. What you are stands over
you all the while and thunders so thai I cannot
hear what you say.r Elbert Hubbard.
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"Sr.'