The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1869-01-01
WINTERING Farm STOCK.


AS winter approaches, the farmer IL
reminded thathis live stock can no long
er wanderover the fields and collect
their food from day to day. The grass
has ceased to grow. The frost has
bound up the surface of the fields in its
cold embrace, and the cattle are attract
ed towards the stable with Hunger, low
ing as they go, to draw the attention of
the herdsmen 10 their dependent posi-
ton, pleading for something to eat.
The barns are well stored with hay
and grain; stacks and ricks Of hay and
fodder surround the barns and stables,
as corps de reserve, showing the thrift
mess aud foresight Of the Industrious
farmer in providing for the coming win
ter; but what Of winter7 We readily
perceive when It begins, but who can
predict when IL win end? Some winters
are short and pleasant, bat we can only
discover this when we arrive ut the fur
Their end. Some are very long and very
severe these are the ones we should
make our calculations by, and enter into
them as cautious general enters into q
campaign. Graduate the quantity of
stock by the amount Of feed in store I; If
you have too much stock, dispose of
part; IL too little, add more; better too
little than too much, always bearing in
mind that il pays better TO keep stock
well than to keep 1t poor.
Here we come to point where many
farmers greatly err. Some people think
that when butter Is plenty Il should be
spread thick on the bread, without stop
ping to think il may sometime become
scarce, and then the bread will not be
eaten with 80 good . relish with thin
ner spread, or without any at all. So
with the winter fodder. They begin to
4 L. .
of winter; not only lavishly, bat waste
fully, thinking that the large amount of
food on hand can hardly be eaten by
their stock during the winter, forgetting
that the winter may be very long one.
There is deeper view OF the matter,
and one that is worth looking into All
that farmer grows on his farm is W orth
mOney-worth dollars; that is the word
talk of dollars, and every one can ap-
preciate it. Now all his hay, straw,
corn and oats can be converted into
dollars. A farmer will not scatter his
dollars about carelessly, but he will
sometimes waste or let go to waste that
which, if properly applied, can be con-
verted into dollars.
The important question presents it.
self here-how all this great accumula-
ton of stock foobcan be converted into
the most money? Not by throwing ii
in large quantities before the stock to
be trampled under their feet. This, you
say, will make manure. So 1t will but
at what cost Did the farmer toll
and sweat, and hire help during the
whole summer to collect all this great
amount of fodder to make manure
Better to have left it where it grew or
the ground, by which the additional
advantage of mVlching would have
Uolnoblo Sc
it may be purchased toe dearly. Dc
you suppose that stock will thrive any
better by having large quantities of fooC
continually at their disposal to either
eat orwaste? No; they will not thrive
so well. The appetite becomes cloyeC
and vitiatcd by the very abundance pre-
scented TO them through kindness-theN
select the most palatable parts and re
ject the remainder, and thus cultivate |
fastidious appetite that becomes NOR
F. and more critical every day.
Stock will thrive better with Just a
much food given them as they will ca
up clean. This should be at stated pc
RODS, and regularly attended to. If b,
feeding economically large surplus i
found to be on hand at the end of seas
on, IL is better than to have wasted it
but it would have been better and NOR
profitable to have added more stocl
which would have yielded more profit
Don't waste the food, nevertheless
your fields may not yield SO abundant,
the next season, ami your hay beinI
we'll secured will lose none of its virtu
by being kept over.
There has been so much written an,
printed in the former pages of tn
Journal in favor of steaming food TO
farm stock, that it may not be necessar
to say more than just call the reader
attention TO it. One thing is certain
there is money in it, and those who re
ject il will be convinced after q while
that they cannot compete with thei
more enterprising neighbors who adop
it. If the hay grown on twenty acre
can be made equal to that grown o.
thirty acres, by cutting and steaming il
then the steaming is equal to adding tie
more acres to the farm. The steamin
apparatus need not be near the barn
the food can readily be removed to an
fro OH light .hand-cart. The Who'll
thing is not very costly, and is soon re
paid by the additional profits.-Anaeri
can Stock journal.