The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1885-10-21
OUR FARM BUDGET.
Shelter and Cost Of Fsed-Hayestng PO-
tatoes
Prepare Eggs Vow for Winter-A Fore
thought of Winter Eggs-In Case OF
StOrm-Beef or Butter-Household
Hints-Farm Notes.
shelter and Cost of Feed.


Shelter once erected costs but little, vet il
y equal TO an annual crop in the saving of
feed in winter. This fact has become so
apparent of late years that scientists are able
To approximate the value of the food in pro-
portion to the warmth of the quarters and
the method of management. Professor Nor
row, of the Illinois Agricultural College,
maintains that little or no profit can be ex-
pected from full feeding cattle that are not
properly sheltered, and he has tested the
matter by numerous experiments During
three successive winters yearlings and
twO-year-Old steers were kept with the
shelter of straw stacks, with abundant straw
and corn fodder, some hay and corn, with
plenty Of water; but he found them to weigh
no more the LIST of April than they did in
November. \ number of fat steers were
sold in November. which were kept twenty
DAYS at the request of the buyer, during
which time the weather became very cold.
They ate 100 bushels ofcorn, besides hav and
straw; but the total gain of the whole
televeni was only forty pounds.
A comparison of such small gains in the
winter with the heavy weights OF cattle fed
in summer when the weather is warm and
the conditions are favorable, may be easily
ynade. During several seasons yearling
steers OF different breeds made average gains
of 225 pounds and later of $50 pounds in six
months. Two-year-old steers did even better,
one of them attaining 525 pounds in six
months All these weights were from grass
alone. With better system of feeding,
calves have been produced weighing from
$50 TO 100 pounds at six months old; from
600 10 700 pounds at one year old. from 900
10 LOO pounds at two years old, on good
pasture and some grain, which shows that rs
the food was digested it was appropriated TO
growth and fat without being thrown off as
heat.
The value of good shelter is in maintain
ing the heat of the body. As the heat is
produced from the food, it. is apparent the
warmer the animal is kept in winter the less
food is required to supply It's wants As the
p winter is an excellent time for fattening the
stock, owing TO outdoor work being sus-
pended, there is no better assistant for that
purpose than good dry quarters. Before the
animal can lay on fat the ordinary demands
for the heat OF the body must be provided,
and during very severe and cold seasons the
animal can not even appropriate food
sufficient to create the necessary heat to sus-
tain life when exposed without shelter
Every pound of flesh lost must be renewed
. anu every gay tnat an animal is led
without gaining in flesh Is 50
much time lost that can never
be Tegained. Shelter, then, is economical
in enabling the animals not only TO supply
themselves with sufficient heat, but to store
ON fat, and it represents just 30 much grain
or hay. The more complete the building Tor
the purposes intended the better and the
more comfortable the animals the faster they
will incrt aSe in weight.
One should not wait until the season be
comes cold before erecting the shelter as a
good start in the fall will materially assist
the animals 10 enter the winter full of vigor
and well prepared to endure the cold, pro-
vidcd they are properly cared for. As the
cattle Will gain from good shelter, so will the
pigs and sheep, which should also be kept
warm. Even the poultry will lay in winter
If kept warm and comfortable.