Grains and Grain By-Products

This classification includes such feeds as wheat bran, shorts, cow-peas. Of these feeds the most commonly used for calves are bran and shorts or middlings. They are considerably lower in protein than the protein concentrates previously discussed, but also higher in protein than the high carbohydrate concentrates. For this reason they enjoy an intermediate position as regards proteins and carbohydrates or energy value. Being rather bulky in nature they add to the palatability of the concentrated grain ration.

Minerals. To build a sound and healthy skeleton and body, ade­quate amounts of minerals, especially calcium and phosphorus, are required. A lack of sufficient minerals may be even more disastrous to the calf than a shortage of protein or carbohydrates. Should a mineral-deficient ration continue over long periods, skeleton deve­lopment is abnormal, resulting in serious deformities. The calf's bones are unable to stand the increasing weight and may bend, become unsound in the joints and in some cases may even break. There is also a tendency for the calf to become unthrifty, listless, and to use his feed very inefficiently.

Vitamins. Luckily the cattle feeder is relatively free of vitamin troubles in his feeding operations with calves. Vitamin С is not needed by the calf, and vitamins A and В are quite likely to be present in the good grain mixture containing any grains. Vitamin D and to some extent vitamin A are found in limited amounts in good green leafy alfalfa hays and in the pasture grasses. Most milk contains some vitamin A and to a lesser extent vitamin D. If the calves show a tendency toward respiratory troubles, lack of thriftiness, and crooked legs with big joints when fed rations high in mineral, this is evidence of a lack of vitamin A and D. The condition can be corrected by feeding cod-liver oil which is rich in both vitamins. Cod-liver oil fed at the rate of one tablespoonful daily should prove ample.

Salt. Common salt is required by animals and should be provided either in the feed mixture or be available to the calf as such whenever he desires it. The latter way is a good practice, and for calves fine salt is better than block salt. A calf from birth until a year of age will require a little less than 28, 34 gr of salt per day.

Water. Too often the calf is made to get all his drink from milk. Even the small calf from two or three weeks on should have access to good clean water at frequent intervals. This is especially true in the summer. The water in winter should not be near freezing as is too _.often the case. Ice water chills the calf and stops digestion until that water is warmed by the body heat. If the calf is to be kept thrifty, the water should also be clean.

Notes

bran – висівки

middlings – другосортний товар

palatable – смачний

disastrous – згубний

deformity – потворність

unthrifty – неощадливий

listless – млявий

chill – простуда

Wheat

Most widely used selected varieties of winter wheat (Ukrainka, Stavropolska, etc.) surpass the best American varieties.

The largest winter wheat producing areas are the southern regions of Ukraine, where the winters are mild. At one time these regions constituted 70 percent of the total wheat producing area. Nowadays the cultivation of winter wheat is spreading to the North.

Factors which will almost double wheat yields in our country are as follows: 1. The fertility of the soil. 2. The rotation of crops. 3. Barnyard manures. 4. Chemical fertilizers. 5. Early ploughing. 6. The time of sowing. 7. Plump and heavy grains for seed. 8. Proper rate of seeding. 9. Prolific and adaptable strains. 10. Combating of diseases and insects.

Early ploughing is an important factor in securing more wheat per hectare. Wheat yields greatly depend on the time of seeding in a given region or district. An early prepared soil conserves the soil moisture much better than a soil that is prepared late. The grain and straw yield is almost in direct proportion to the amount of available moisture present at seeding time. A few suggestions may be made: 1) As throughout the wheat belt the amount of moisture at seeding time is often very limited the soil should be prepared in such a way that a maximum of the rainfall may be conserved. 2) Any seed bed containing a fair amount of available moisture will produce such a stand of wheat that the dangers from winter killing are minimized. 3) Later sowing may be employed when plenty of soil moisture is present, and thereby the Hessian fly may be almost wholly, if not entirely, avoided. Wheat demands a mellow, well prepared, compact seed bed. Thoroughly disking the soil before ploughing insures a uniform, mellow seed bed and is recommended as good farm practice. Late ploughing should not exceed under ordinary conditions 18— 20 cm. The soil for wheat should be thoroughly disked to insure a uniform mellow seed bed.

The rate of seeding wheat is a very complicated problem. One must take into consideration climate and soil conditions, the tilling of the soil, the time of seeding wheat, the quality of seed, the method of seeding, etc.

About 4 million of winter wheat seed are to be sown per hectare in arid steppe-land region, 5 million in black soil regions and 6 million in other regions.

Barnyard manures aid in increasing wheat yields. Black soil should be manured at the rate of 18—20 ton per hectare, the soil of the northern regions at the rate of 30—35 ton per hectare. Fertilizers should be applied as well.

Combating the enemies of wheat is a large and important factor in its production. There are two classes of enemies of wheat, fungi and insects. Of the fungous diseases there are three that are important, namely, the loose smut, the stinking smut and the rust.

Notes

to surpass – перевершувати

manure – гній, добриво

plump – повний

thereby – таким чином; за допомогою

fly – муха

mellow – стиглий

to till – обробляти землю

smut – сажа; бруд