A compendium of the veterinary art : containing plain and concise observations on the construction and management of the stable ... the structure and economy of the horse ... a copious materia medica and pharmacopœia / by James White.

  • White, James, -1825
Date:
1842
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A compendium of the veterinary art : containing plain and concise observations on the construction and management of the stable ... the structure and economy of the horse ... a copious materia medica and pharmacopœia / by James White. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    causing them to be perfectly masticated. It is also thought, that if the horse's hay were given principally, or even wholly in the form of chaff, it would be the means of a great saving of hay, as well as of insuring a perfect mastication of the oats. There are circumstances to be considered, however, which may make rather against this opinion. * Horses certainly prefer eating hay from the rack: and when it is good, and given four times a day in small quantities, the horse will eat his allowance with avidity, or with that appetite which will insure a perfect digestion and assimilation of the food; and so will it be with oats when they are good, cleanly sifted, and given in small portions at a time; and if spread thinly on the bottom of a wide manger, there will be no danger of his eating them too greedily. If he has any sharp edges in his grinders which prevent him from masticating properly, they must be rasped or filed, as will be described here- after. Oats thus given, and not in excess, but duly proportioned to the horse's work, will be perfectly masticated, digested, and assimilated: the chyle formed from such a diet, and so dispensed, will be pure, and consequently the blood will be so also. Now let us contrast with this simple, wholesome, and economical mode of feeding, that which is commonly adopted. The hay, in the first place, is either of indifferent or bad quality, and given in unlimited quantity. The oats are generally, perhaps, tolerably good ; but sometimes they are indifferent, or even musty and unwholesome : they are dispensed irregularly, and often in too large quantities at a time, and so thrown int6 the manger that a. horse may easily fill his mouth, and in such a way that he must * Mr, Stewart, in his work on Stable Economy, after enumerating at length the advantages and disadvantages of chafF-cutting, thus sums them up: — That, where the stablemen are careful, waste of fodder is diminished, though not prevented. That, where the racks are good, careful stablemen may prevent nearly all waste of fodder, without cutting it. That an accurate distribution of fodder is not a very important object. That no horse seems to like his corn the better for being mingled with chaff. That, among half-starved horses, chaff-cutting promotes the consumption of damaged fodder. That full-fed horses, rather than eat the mixture of sound and unsound, will reject the whole, or eat less than their work demands. That chaff is more easily eaten than hay: that this is an advantage to old horses, and others working all day; a disadvantage when the horses stand long in the stable. That chaff ensures complete mastication and deliberate ingestion of the corn : tiiat it is of considerable and of most importance in this respect: that all the fodder need not be mingled with the corn, one pound of chaff being sufficient to ensure the mastication and slow ingestion of four pounds of corn. That the cost of cutting all the fodder, especially for heavy horses, is repaid only where the liay is dear, and wasted in largo quantities. That, among hard-working horses, bail fodder should never be cut.—Eu.]
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