Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1874-11-27
Care of Stock i'm Winter.

THAT there is an immense amount of
suffering among farm animals in winter,
owing to the want of shelter and proper
food, we think few will attempt to deny;
and, strange as it may appear, cruelty of
this kind is generally most common
where the facilities for preventing it are
the most abundant. In the older States,
where food and even building materials
are scarce and high priced, animals are
better cared for than in the newer ones
where these are both cheap and album
dant. We seldom hear of cattle dying
for want of shelter or food in the thickly-
settled portions of the Eastern States,
but such disasters are not unfrequent in
the West Of course there are stock
| owners everywhere who are constantly
practicing cruelty upon animals which
should cause them to be banished from
respectable society; but it is to be hoped
that these are exceptional cases. There
are persons who appear to think that if
they furnish anything in the way of food
which animals will eat, even under COM
pulsion, their duty in the matter is done,
and if, suffering from an inclement eli
mate, thirst or disease follow, the sin of
neglect should not be laid at their door.
A glance at the farm buildings in many
of the older and more wealthy portions
of the country would soon convince an
observer that they are almost worthless
as shelter for the animals which are gen
orally kept therein. We have seen thou
sands of barns sided up with green hem
lock boards, reaching from sill TO plate,
and with no sign of batten over the
cracks, which widen as the timber be-
| comes old and seasoned. In the corner
of many of these crate-like structures a
stable is partitioned off for the horses,
while the COWS are left in the yard to
seek shelter wherever they may happen
to find it. It is we'll known to every in
telligent stock-owner that animals will
| thrive on much less food in warm, COM
| Portable stables than when exposed to
| the cold; therefore it is a matter of
economy to furnish warm quarters for
stock, to say nothing of the humane side
of the question.
In the colder localities, where stock
must be furnished artificially with all the
| food required during the winter, good,
warm stables are necessary for both
night and day; but in warmer climates
| where there are no SHOWS to cover the
dried heritage, and stock can Craze
throughout the year, shelter is not quite
so important. Still, no animal can rest
comfortably or remain healthy if exposed
to cold rains, such as occur in all parts
of the country, both North and South.
This is especially important with neat
cattle, which gather their food rapidly,
| filling themselves with coarse, unmasti-
Gated food, which is re-chewed while
they are in a state of rest. Such ami
mails may live and grow fat on the Texas
prairies or Western plains, even if COM
PEELED to sleep out in cold rains, chilly
dews and exposed to cold winds. Still,
they would certainly be more comforta-
BILE and would do better if given shelter
of some kind, even if nothing better was
employed than open sheds covered with
prairie grass or evergreen boughs. We
have no climate in the United States so
mild in winter that shelter for stock i
unnecessary; for wherever frosts are
likely to occur and rains to fall, animals
require protection for both health and
profit.
Next in importance to supplying an
abundance of good nutritious food, that
of variety of food claims attention. This
is probably more important in cold than
in warm climates, although worthy of
some notice in both. A sudden change
from green, succulent food to dry and
woody, as from grass to hay, straw or
cornstalks, frequently severely tests the
digestive organs of the most healthy ami
NAL, and, as a matter OF safety, the
change should be gradual instead Of sud-
den Our best farmers fully appreci-
ate the importance of q gradual
] change of food, and Of 2 variety