The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1879-06-26
5nr the farmer.
MAKING UP CATTLE ROR MARKET.

1t is not a rash assertion TO state that millions
Of dollars are annually lost by our western
farmers by the imperfect manner in which they
prepare their cattle for market. In the report
Of the great cattle markets of the west we IRE
qnently read that ''tbe offerings were nearly all
of inferior grades" 1t is to be wondered at
that farmers, who are shrewd enough in other
matters, should be careless in this important
particular. The farmer who raises or buys cat
tie for feeding, and sells them before they are
fat, loses in two ways-irst in the quality Of
the beef and secondly in the weight of the ami
mails. The cause OF the low condition OF the
generality Of western cattle is not the scarcity
Of pasture or fodder. but the want Of shelter in
winter and shade aud sncculeIst food daring the
ecorching heat and protracted drouth of summer.
1t is well known that cattle in warm houses
or sheds in winter, aud properly fed and cared
for, will improve in condition on an amount of
food that would scarcely keep them alive with
ont the aid of shelter. If we do not afford the
necessary temperature for keeping their bodies
warm, the food they eat and the fat on their
frames will lie consumed to keep mp the natural
heat without which they cannot I've. Where
stock of any kind are badly wintered they come
out weak in spring. and a considerable portion
of the summer will have passed before they have
recovered from the hardships they endured.
Then comes long drought, the pastures become
parched, and another check 10 given. to their
growth or improvement. There is but little use
in expecting to realize profit from feeding stock,
if they are not kept in good condition at all
seasons, and this can only he affected by breed
ing or purchasing the best kind of cattle, sup
plying them with an abundance of nutritious
food ut all seasons, and also with shade in sum-
mer and shelter in winter. BY an acquaintance
with the laws of heat in connection with phys
iology, we discover that if the temperature of
the building in which stock are wintered is too
low, the proportion of food is much greater than
when suitable degree of heat is kept up, and
that this increased amount Of provender does
not tend to increase the fairness of the cattle.
E.sN- ~x.F
animals, has been well explained by DIR. Lyon
Playfair in the Journal Of the Royal Agricultural
Society Of England. He says that when the
chemical power, oxygen, succeeds IN effecting
the waste of the body, it converts it from the
elements from which it originally sprung, into
carbonic acid, water and ammonia. There are,
indeed, intermediate compounds formed, but
these are the final products of the decay of the
body, OF of its parts, and these are the very sub
stances on which plants live; SO that the decay
and death actually become the source of life.
1t is well known that the vital forces decrease
when the body is exposed to a certain degree of
cold; and that when this is sufficiently intense,
that they are either suspended or actually an
initiated But the chemical force, oxygen, is
condensed or increased by su ch agencies, aud
vitality having been removed, chemical affinity
acts on the TISSUES and effects their destruction.
Hence it is that cattle do not fattsn we'll in
cold weather in hot. We know by expert
ence that the Intervention of cold weather in
summer retards the fattening of cattle. But
the decrease of vitality has been occasioned by
the diminution of the temperature Of the body,
1t is obvious that by elevation of the temper
ature such as can be effected i'm houses and
sheds, vitality will be enabled to resume its
proper functions. The forage of various couu-
tries is more or less combustible according to the
temperature of the climate, and the quantity
of food consumed by animals varies also accor-
ding to the temperature. In order to keep
animals in good condition, the requisite degree
of heat must be preserved in all climates. If
we want to keep the vital functions of our
cattle in proper degree of activity in winter,
we must keep up the heat of their bodies by
providing adequate shelter and nut rtious food.
Warmth is, in a great measure, an equivalent
for food, and where both made use of judi
cously, the success Of the feeder will be complete