Notes on Stable Management in India and the Colonies

by Joshua A. Nunn

Barley (jow).

In many parts of Northern India, especially on the Afghan frontier, whole, uncrushed barley is used. It does not seem to hurt country-breds, but with old animals that are not used to it, and particularly Australians, the practice is dangerous. During the Afghan War, on one occasion there being no other grain available, whole barley was supplied to the horses of the battery of artillery to which I then belonged. A number of them were attacked with colic, and several died from the irritation caused by the pointed awns or ends of the beards to the bowels. No doubt horses, and particularly young ones, will get used to feeding on most grains if the change is brought about gradually, but a sudden change from any one to another is dangerous. At the best, whole barley is not an economical food. The husk resists the digestive action of the stomach and intestines, and a quantity is always passed out of the body whole. Barley ought certainly always to be crushed, or, better still, parched, and turned into “adarwah.” This is done by professional grain parchers in the bazaar; but sometimes, though rarely, some of the women of the servants’ families can do it. It consists of half filling a wide shallow iron pan with sand, and placing it over a fire till nearly red hot. A couple of handfuls of the grain is then thrown into the sand with a peculiar turn of the wrist which scatters it over the hot surface, about which it is stirred for a few seconds with an iron spoon or small shovel pierced with holes like a fish-ladle. The grain is partially baked, swells up and becomes brittle, the husk cracking, when it is scraped up and lifted out with the ladle, the sand being riddled through back into the pan. A good parcher will turn out a “maund” (80 lbs.) in a wonderfully short space of time, the whole process being gone through with a dexterity only acquired by long practice. In India barley usually runs very light, there being a great deal of husk. Boiled barley is a most useful diet for a sick horse. It requires well boiling for at least half an hour, and the water then drained off. I have known horses drink this barley-water when they won’t look at anything else.

Bran (choker).

In most of the large stations in India there are flour-mills in which wheat is ground with the latest machinery, and when obtained from them, bran differs but little from what is seen in England; but in smaller places wheat is ground by native mills, and then the bran is not so clean. When native-made bran is run over the hand, it will be seen that there is a large amount of flour in it, which adheres to the skin like a white powder, and which makes it much more nourishing than the cleaner prepared article. The scales also of native-made bran are much more irregular in size than the European manufactured article. Bran should have a clean, fresh smell about it, and the newer it is the better; if kept long it is likely to get mouldy. This is particularly the case during the rainy season, when the atmosphere being saturated with moisture, a good deal is absorbed by the bran, and if kept in this state for any time will get mouldy. On this account, if it is necessary to store bran during the rainy season, it should be kept in tin boxes. The inside lining of old packing cases, in which perishable goods are brought out from England, do well for this purpose, and plenty can be got for a small sum in the bazaar shops; or, if not, any native tinsmith will make a box out of old kerosine oil tins for a small sum.

Bran Mash.

It is a good plan, particularly in warm weather, in any country to give horses a bran mash once a week, and if one particular evening is fixed upon, syces get into the habit of giving it regularly without special orders. I generally used to give a standing order to give it on Saturday night, for, as a rule, the horses are not required on Sunday. Bran has a slightly relaxing effect, that in warm climates is particularly beneficial. Bran mash is made by simply putting the necessary quantity of bran into a bucket, pouring boiling water gradually on to it, at the same time stirring it round with a stick until the whole is moist and mixed together. The bran should only be damped sufficiently to make it stick together, and should not be sloppy and wet. Some horses at first will not eat bran, but they can be tempted to by mixing a handful of whatever grain they have been used to with it.

Oats (jai).

Oats are now largely grown over the Punjab, Northern India, and in Tirhoot, and are sold at nearly the same price as barley. In the seaport towns Australian oats can usually be obtained; and as good oats are grown in the colonies as any part of the world. They are more expensive than the native article, and are generally only used for training race-horses on. The Indian oat, compared with the English, Australian, or South African, is a poor article, running very light, with a great amount of husk; but if properly crushed, and mixed with gram and bran in proportions of one part of each, they are greatly superior to barley. The oat in India is a winter crop, and is harvested in the spring. Both colonial and Indian oats are always white. I have never seen the black or tawny variety which is so common in Ireland. A demand having arisen for them by Europeans, it is sometimes possible in Northern India to buy them in the bazaar; but generally it is necessary to make a special arrangement with the grower, as natives do not use them as a feeding grain for their own animals. They grow the crop round the wells, and cut it green in the straw as forage for the well and plough bullocks in the spring, when they are working hard. Arrangements can generally be made with the cultivator to purchase so much from him by weight, thrashed and delivered at your own stable, or else to purchase so many acres of the standing crop as it is growing; but the former plan is the most satisfactory, as it is astonishing the heavy crop that will be produced; and, on the contrary, you will be equally astonished to find with the other plan how light it is. The negotiations for the supply of oats should be entered into in good time in the spring—say about the beginning of March—as it is astonishing how slow such matters progress in the East, and they had better be left in the hands of your head syce. No doubt you will be cheated out of a small amount, but you must make up your mind for this before arriving in the East; but you will have the satisfaction of knowing that if you tried to carry on negotiations yourself you would be cheated out of more. I have tried both plans, and found that the syce could drive a better bargain for both of us than when I attempted to deal direct with the cultivator.

Maize (makkai).