People's Pilot, Volume 5, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 January 1896 — WINTER PROTECTION OF STOCK. [ARTICLE]

WINTER PROTECTION OF STOCK.

PunluK UniverHitu Aartcwltuml Ejcite.ritnent Station.-Newnpatte.r liulletinNo. IS. Jan. 4, •90. A common winter sight, is a herd of cattle exposed to severest kind of weather, browsing in corn fields or standing humped up in chilling winds. Food is f uel to the animal body. It requires more fuel to keep up steam in aboiler, when the weather is intensely cold, than it does when it is mild. In the same manner, other things being equal, it requires more food to sustain an animal freely exposed to the chilling blasts of winter, than it does for one given protection. In experiments conducted at thh Indiana Agricultural Experiment Station, milch cows exposed to all sorts of weather in winter but provided with night shelter, made a very unfavorable showing as compared with those given the shelter of the stable, excepting for 'a brief airing when the weather was suitable. The exposed cows ate the most food, lost slightly in weight and also in milk yield. The sheltered ones gained in weigh I, and otherwise made a better showing than the exposed lot.

At the Kansas Experiment Station, hogs kept in conditions of winter exposure did not produce pork so economically as those given reasonable shelter, although the same kind of food was fed to each lot. In reporting the feeding experiments wi*h steers at the same station, Prof. Georgeson says that steers to give the best returns when being fed for beef should be provided with shelter. Warm, low, open sheds in the feed lot give comfortable shelter to steers. While live stock should be protected from the inclemency of the weather, it is important that the stable should be well ventilated and not too warm. Disease propagates easiest where the air is stagnant and impure, hence special efforts should be made to keep the stable air pure. Without doubt tuberculosis is more prevalent among cattle closely confined in stables where the ventilation is bad, than it is where the air is good. Live stock should certainly be allowed outdoor exercise when the 'weather is mild and comfortable, but if it snows or rains and the air is chilling, the animals should be given stable protection. It is also important that the stable should not be too warm in winter. A temperature of 40 degrees is a very satisfactory one. When it is as high as 60 degrees in the barn, stock turned from this into a freezing atmosphere to water, are very apt to be chilled and take cold. When th£ stable is at 40 degrees \mimals are not so easily chilled when turned from the stable. Every stable should have a.thermonpeter to guide one in keeping the temperature of the room as uni- < form as possible. i

C. S. PLUMB,

Director.