The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1875-11-20
Winter Care Of Stock.

The time to make preparations for the
comfort of animals during the winter
months is Immediately. Farmers who
were able to make warm, substantial
stables for their stock, have. of course
already attended to that but there are
thousands who must make the old sta
bles, sheds, and pig-s:ys answer until
they have accumulated a little more, and
such must resort to less expensive meth
DDS of excluding the cold air, and saving
the amount OF food necessary to preserve
their animals in good condition.
Every grain growing farmer has, o!
course, his straw stack, and straw is an
excellent non conductor of heat. Sta,
bles, with ONLY an outside siding. can
easily be lined with old boards, and the
space between the lining and outside,
stuffed with straw. In this way a sta
Die can be made as warm as il a close
clap. boarded barn. If boards arc scarce
it will not be necessary to nail the lining
close together, only close enough to keep
the straw in place.
Cattle should not be left under open
sheds, or to crouch under the leeward
side of straw stacks. If you have moth
ing better than open sheds for your cat
tie, try mailing up two tiers of old boards
in front, filling in between with straw,
line the closed side and ends, and tie up
your cattle so they may hot hook one
another.
We have known sheep provided with
very comfortable quarters in low shed
covered with straw, and banked up
around with the same material, being
left open in front. If sheep are kept
dry, they will endure quite low degree
of cold without detriment to their health.
But when they are exposed to cold rains
and their wool filled with water, they
part rapidly with flesh and strength.
Other animals, swine, poultry, &C.,
will make liberal returns for little
labor. judiciously expended in making
their habitations dry and warm. 1t is
poor economy to allow swine to wade or
wallow in mud. They should be liber-
ally supplied with bedding, which should
be promptly removed when saturated
with filth. 1t will make good manure
but is poor material for even hogs to
make their bed on.
If straw should be scarce, earth and
sods can be used to good advantage in
excluding the cold. Farmers frequently
bank up around their dwellings with
earth, but how seldom do they use the
same abundant material to bank up
around their barns or sheds, yet it would
undoubtedly be quite as afficacious in
the one case as in the other. SOds might
also be used as covering for temporary
sheep sheds in the absence of better
material. In banking up around barn,
the bank should be raised high enough
to cover the sill so as to exclude the air
that often finds entrance between wall
and sill. 1fonly left during cold wealth
er, it will do but little injury to the
siding.
We suggest these inexpensive substi.
tutes for those only who cannot, at pres
ent, afford to build first-class out.build-
ings. Nothing gives a more home-like, |
agreeable, inviting appearance to the |
farmers home than neat, substantial
barns. sheds, memories, pig-stys, &C., and |
We would recommend farmers to surround
themselves with these just as soon as their
means will allow.-Rral Home,