Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 December 1874 — Warm Stables—Blanketing Stock. [ARTICLE]

Warm Stables—Blanketing Stock.

The Western Rural believes that, if it could be properly estimatefl, fully onehalf the grain fed by farmers in wintef is wasted for want of suitable quarters, care and clothing. Every person living on the prairies knows that in a windstorm on the open plain every endeavor must be used to keep from freezing, while, as soon as the shelter of the timber is reached, it is as though one had reached another climate; anti the clothing that \in the first case ’had failed to keep the individual warm, eyen. with violent exertion, in the last case becomes oppressive, even under the most moderate labor. So it is with animals in barns or stables, exposed to every storm of wind ami snow sifting through wide cracks and ill-fitting doors. Is it _any wonder that animals are found in the morning drawn up, shivering, the heat of their bodies blown away faster than nature can supply it? If the stable had been made impendous to wind, and any stable, however rude, can be made so very easily, fully one-quarter of the food consumed might be saved, and that now too often wasted would have been accumulated as flesh and fat. In the first place the stable, unless underpinned with stone and well pointed with mortar, should be banked with earth above the sill, and the spaces between the girths and posts ought to be packed with chaff, or some other material easily procured on the farm—unless, indeed, it has been provided that these spaces may be bricked up or clayed at the time of building, thus making it cool in summer and warm in winter. Stables may be easily protected by setting stakes a short distance from the weather-boarding and attached at the top to the building by braces or The space between the stakes andtfie building may then be filled with the coarse manure from the horse stable or littdr of any kind. At the present high prices of grain some protection of this kind will be found to pay a better interest than any simple arrangement that can be deviated. It is one of the most singular things in farm economy that many farmers will deny their animals, their horses especially, the comfort of blankets. We have found the blanketing of work cattle and steers intended for extra beef to be profitable, and that a blanket to each horse will pay its cost with interest each season there is no doubt. The farmer may buy rough blankets at a mere nominal cost. In these days, when every family is or ought to be provided with sewing machines, it will be but little work to stay those portions which are to support the cord or strap passing around the thighs of the animals and the straps across the chest, which may be fastened with a large button or simple hook and loop that may now be cheaply bought by the dozen. These may be quickly lined with some cheap, strong stuff, as burlaps or other rough material, thus insuring them from tearing and adding to the durability of the fabric. We advise every farmer who has never tried this to lose no time in doing it. It will add to the comfort and consequently to the keeping of the horses. The blankets will be found a very good thing to help keep out the cold from the farmer on the way to market, and when the team is standing about the streets of the village or market-town they will be sure to appreciate the comfort of the covering from the chilling winds that too often lay the foundation of disease which costs the worth of the horse to cure.—Wiwferh Rural.