The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1883-11-28
E,ercl,e and sun,hins for Cows.

As a general thing the farmers COW
| gets sufficient exercise, though perhaps
| il is usual for them to obta it alto
| gether by chance. In other words we
do not attach as much importance to
exercise as is its due. There are many
cows in winter which get insufficient
exercise. They are kept too closely
stalled or too closely yar,led and some
times the subject of exercise never oc-
ours to us. If however they are out
in the open air. even though the yard
is small, they viii get sufficient exer-
else to keep them in health; and eN-
cept in bad weather cow should never
be confined in a stable through the
day. Animals do not naturally differ
from human beings in regard to the
treatment that they need; and we know
the result of confining ourselves in
| doors, without exercise or even in doors
with exercise. 1t is not only the op-
portunity to exercise that is needed,
but an opportunity to enjoy the SIM
| shine. In the spring we know in
what condition our own systems arc
| in, and we should know that the sys-
| TENS of our animals are in a similar
condition and from a like cause. Our
animals, like ourselves, during the win
ter consume large quantity of concen-
trated food; they, especially the COWS.
| get less exercise; there is little or no
perspiration to help carry off the WORN
| out particles of the system; the organs,
beside the skin, are therefore under =
more constant and severe strain; and
when spring comes the system'is more
or less clogged. Whatever we can d.,
therefore, to counteract these influences
we should do, and exercise and sun
shine will do a great deal in that direc-
/ ton. If we take the trouble to go
among the cows that are kept and fed
| at breweries we shall find that part of
their demoralized condition is owning
to lack of exercise. They are kept
almost continually in stalls, feeding up
on the one-sided food that is given
them. The one-sided food is bad
enough, but that together with a lack
of exercise soon produces the most Ia
mentable results. The poor creatures
stand and feed and die by inches in the
midst of filth and a sunless atmosphere.
| 1t is the custom to milk them for
comparatively short time, and
then slaughter them, for no cow can
last long under such treatment. Their
standing condition is one of disease.
We suppose that this system is profit
able or 1t would not prevail. But no
system bearing any resemblance to it is
profitable to the farmer. The first thing
for him t. a m at is perfect health in
| h 5 cows, for disease means los, when
food costs more than brew ry slops
cost. The farmer expects to keep his
COWS for years, and sometimes keeps
them more years than he ought to; and
hi. policy should be to huild up and keep
up. especially when it costs no moro
than the trouble of unfastening the
stable door. Besides the benefit of a.
suripg health to the animal, there is the
matter Of milk which the farmers own
family consumes be considered. 1t
requires so very little disease 10 affect
the railk, that the health of those who
drink the milk and cat the butter that
Is made from the milk from our COWS,
makes watchfulness of the cows heslth
very important matter. The milk
consumers in our cities are in the pres
ence of constant dangr when
they are handling the milk
pitcher. 1t is undoubted that
hundreds of infants in the CITY
die annually from drinking diseased
milk. But city people can not help
this. Farmers can to very large ex-
tent, if they are watchful of their COWS.
1t often appears as if we thought that
milk formation was an independent
process in the cows mechanism, a fact
that has been demonstrated by the n
Quiry which has sometimes been made
of US, whether the food flavors the
milk. Now such 4 question certainly
indicates that the questioner has an
idea that milk is made otherwise thar
from the food. And the same idea il
often practically, if not really enter
tsned with reference to the effect Of
slight disease in the animal upon the
milk. Perhaps the difficulty is largely
owing to imperfect realization of the
marvellous susceptibility of milk. The
COW becomes slightly out of condition
80 slightly. perhaps, as Just to be no
ticeable. In that condition not one
drop of her milk is perfectly healthy,
and there is risk in using it for human
food. But she may be so little out oi
condition us to be wholly unnoticeable
Still the milk will be affected. Hence
the necessity of taking every precau
tion to keep the animal in health.
All stables, however carefully con
structed they may be, are more un
healthy than the open air, If the wealth
er s fair and not excessively cold
To the extent that sunshine is kept on
of q stable, we favor the propagation
of disease. This truth would be start
Hngly illustrated II we could look un
der the floor of a basement house
Generally there is ventilat on under The
floor, but if the floor is removed the
space underneath will be found to be 1
very breeding nest of disease. and hun
dreds of cases of typhoid fever an,
pneumonia in cities come from thi.
cause. There is no sunshine TO pur +
such places. Stables are not so bad
but to certain degree the same con
ditiors exist in them, and partic larll
in easement stables. Naturally there
Is some moisture wherever animals ar
kept, and unless il is dr,ed and puritie,
, by the rays of the sun, it must in some
measure create similar condition tC
that existing under n ba emeut floor
With complete vent lation these condi
tions are considera ly modified, bu
still they are present in sufficient prom
, nance to make the necessity of out dOul
life in suitable weather apparent
Western RurdI.