Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-05-02
Raising CeilA.

We are asked by q correspondent
| what kind of foods q colt should have,
and whether or not plenty of food will
| There is no difference whatever in the
principle Of feeding young animals. All
Of them, whether they are children,
colts, pigs, calves or lambs, need food
of nearly the same character. They
are born into the world with perfect
but diminutive systems. If we expect
to fully develope them into a grown
| creature, we must feed such foods as
| willfurnish material to increase the size
| of the bones, and that will build up the
muscular system. Unless We do feed
| such foods we might just about as well
feed nothing; for the young animal, If
wholly deprived of them, could make
no growth and could not retain health.
There is, of cource, in all foods some
thing of the bone and muscle forming
elements, and when fat forming foods
are fed almost exclusively to growing
animals, those elements are the only
elements that keep life i'll them at all.
But if sc fed they are loosing all the
time, and it is a process of gradual de-
cay. In the case of swine that are often
60 largely fed from the start in this way,
this is as true as it would be with the
colt, butthey are kept such a compara-
lively short time that the ill effects r
not as conspicuous as they would be with
the colt. If we take a colt and feed it
corn exclusively we shall have an
imperfectly developed horse. and
| one whose system is full of disease.
We again repeat, in this connection,
that nine-tenths of the diseases of ami
mails can be directly traced to this
process of starving the system by neg
lecting to supply it with the materials
that it needst to repair the waste of bone
and muscle, or in case of young animals
the materials necessary to make growth
of bone and muscle. This, too, viii
answer the question of our correspon-
dent, whether or not plenty Of feed will
make q better horse. All young and
growing animals are great feeders. Il
is from what they eat that they must
get every particle of growth of bone and
muscle, and as they are developing
rapidly, they consume a great deal; and
they ought to have all of the proper
kinds Of food that they can digest and
assimilate. They do not need fat be-
| You'd a limited extent, and they can get
all that they do need from what are
termed the flesh forming foods. The
horse never should be highly fattened,
and certainly not when q colt. 1t is
not fat but strength that we want in the
horse, and we cannot have that unless
we develop its bone and muscles. 1t
is the worst OF fallacies to stint a colt in
its feed, but that does not mean that he
shall be stuffed. An animal may be
hurt by too much feeding as we'll as q
child. He should have Just enough and
no more, and Of the right kind Of food.
What is enough? Of course no rule can
be laid down for that. The Judgment
OF the feeder must settle that point with
the particular colt that he is feeding.
AS to the proper food, that must
be, rs already stated, largely of
the bone and muscle forming character.
What are these? Oats, barley, rye, mil
let, meal, peas, oil meal, good hay,
always we'll to furnish animals, and
especially young animals, with change
OF diet, but precisely what we shall feed
in the above list will depend upon cir
oumstances, a which we may have,
price, etc. 1t must never be forgotten
that all animals need q reasonable
amount Of bulk in their food. The di-
gestive functions can be maintained in
vigor only in this way.
And we desire to call attention here
again to the necessity of that very
cheap necessary in properly developing
the young animal-pure air. Deprive
the colt or other young creature of q
free supply of oxygen, and we have inn
peded the entire work of the animal
economy. The blood is not oxidized,
and that means that it becomes incap-
able of performing its functions, and
that the case, indigestion and all the
other ills of animal flesh may, and
many of them will likely follow. But
it is not the very easiest thing in the
world to furnish pure air in the right
way. We may open the stable door
and get a supply, although that may
not be perfect because Of the made
quate means of exit for the foul air.
But even ifsuch a were perfect, a
great draft of air through a stable door
is not the thing. Nor is it the thing to
establish a means of ventilation by
means of a steady draft. Proper ven.
tilation is the admission of pure air in
such a way as that the animal shall moi
feel a draft, and a free exit for the i'm.
pure air. The former should come in
at the bottom of the stable, and the lat
ter should go out at tie top of the stable.
1t is not much trouble to establish
ventilation, and it is worth a great deal
of money to any owner Of stock
Westegn Ru70I.
Fashion Fancies.
MuSlins are revived fol. euaninn u,oax