Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 July 1877 — Agricultural Department [ARTICLE]

Agricultural Department

Care of Stock in Summer. Do not neglect thp live stock at this season of the year. It is one of the busiest periods in the round of farm labor, and the demands on the farmer's time and attention in saving his crops, may cause him to neglect his stock. The hay and wheat harvests impose exacting, laborious and almost unceasing toil, until they are over, and it happens not nnfrequently'that domestic animals are neglected. The pastures in some localities get short of feed, and the water partially or wholly fails, and the result is that the animals subsist on very short commons, sometimes going without water for several days, and obtaining an inadequate supply of grass for their daily wants. It tells on their health and development, as the farmer subsequently learns to his cost. True economy in the summer management of live stock consists in keeping up a thriving condition; otherwise constitutional vigor is impaired, to say nothof a loss of time in the process of recuperation and the extra amount of food required to restore an animal to its normal

physical state. The trying season of dry weather should be provided for before it arrives, so that no detriment may result from its advent. The water and the grass fail when they are the most needed, and it is at this very season that the farmer who cultivates grain and grass crops has the least time to meet thepressingrequi' e ments to which his stock is subjected. But if circumstances make it inconvenient to provide in advance For these requirements, no efforts should be spared to make some provision to prevent waste and suffering during the heated term when it arrives. We have heretofore referred to the necessity of good water for stock at all seasons of the year, and shown, in connection with the dairy interest, how serious are the losses that follow from the lack of it. It is not from shrinkage iu milk, however, that the greatest loss arises; the tax upon the vitality of all stock JVo in insufficient _water and food represents a greater deterioration. And

what is true of cows in milk, so far as physical strength is concerned, holds good with other kinds of stock; especially with young and growing animals. Calves are so stinted from this cause, sometimes, that they never fully recover from it, even with subsequent generous treatment. So it is, too, with colts and lambs. And here we nre impelled to say, that some farmers labor under the hallucination that sheep require but little water and do well enough on what they get by the deposit of dew ou grass. It is a cruel error, and should be dismissed at oilce forever. Sheep require water quite as imperatively if their health and vigor are maintained as other kinds of domestic animals; and when by carelessness or neglect they are deprived of it for any length of time they suffer in constitution as widl as in fleece. The fiber of wool may be grown evenly and strongly, but that sort of growth is api ested when food and water are denied sufficient to keep up the animal’s vitality. The fiber shrinks as the sheep shrinks, aud wheiji the animal again gets into its former condition and the' wool assumes its normal state, there is a weak spot in it which the expert wool buyer is not slovy to detect. Nor can ewes furnish a sufiicientjflow of milk for their lambs if they are deprived of enough water to amply supply their wants. The same thing applies to other do-

mes+ic animals that suckle their young. AVhen these important considerations are taken into account and properly appreciated, it would seem that no matter how pressing the work at harvest time, the farmer whose require attention will see that water and succulent food necessary to their comfort and growth are provided, and not permit them, in a measure, to perish from thirst and hunger. Western Rural.