Jasper Republican, Volume 2, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 November 1875 — Fall and Winter Care of Stock. [ARTICLE]

Fall and Winter Care of Stock.

Under the system followed by some farmers nearly all the growth dr gain in weight made by the cattle ia during the summer months, they being so poorly fed and cared for during winter as to grow but little, if any, and it is not uncommon to have both young and full-grown cattle weigh less in April than they did in October. When grass comes in the spring some weeks pass before the former state of health and flesh is regained, so that five months out of the twelve not unfrequently is the time in which flesh is added. This, of course, is very unprofitable management, and now is a good time to make preparation to prevent any approach to itIf supplied with an abundance of good food a healthy animal will not seriously suffer from exposure to extreme cold, and will even show comparatively little bad effects from exposure to storms of cold rains or snow. But this is expensive work. The animal must keep itself warm in some way and must get dry if not kept dry. If comfortable shelter does not keep it warm and dry it must consume more food to supply the extra heat, and if this food is not supplied the animal must draw on the store of fat it has laid up in the past. It is entirely possible to keep domestic animals too warm in winter; it ia quite common, in the attempt to keep them warm, to injure them by confining them in badly-ventilated stables and sheds. Neither of these abuses makes it advisable to go to the other extreme and give it insufficient shelter. A common mistake, we think, is in neglecting cattle in the fall, allowing them to lose flesh before giving them grain Or shelter. It is not necessary to have expensive buildings. Even a straw-covered shed or stable, which can be made in a day and with very little expenditure of money, will keep cattle dry and warm. Neither is it necessary to feed extravagantly, but enough should be given to make up for depreciation in value of the grass by frosts or drought. It is coming to be generally recognized that it does not pay to allow young plants or animals to receive a check to their growth if this can be avoided; so it is unwise to allow a loss of the gain made during the summer by lack of care or food in the fall or winter. —Western Rural.