The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-10-30
Shelter and Cost of Feed.


Shelter once erected costs but little yet it is
equal to annual crop in the saving of feed in
winter. This fact has become apparent of
late years that scientists able to approximate
the value of the food in proportion to the
warmth of the quarters and the method of
management. Professor Morrow. of the Illinois
Agricultural College, maintains that little or no
profit can be expected 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. A 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 of corn, besides hay
and straw; but the total gain of the whole
(eleven) was only forty pounds.
comparison of such small gains in the win
ter with the heavy weights of cattle fed in sum-
mer. when the weather is warm and the condi-
| lions are favorable may be easily made. During
several seasons yearing steers of different
breeds made average gains of 235 pounds. md
later OF 48O 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 a better
system of feeding. calves have been produced
weis hing from $40 to 400 pounds at six months
old, from 600 to 700 pounds at one year old, from
LO00 to L, lOO pounds at two years old, good
pasture and some grain, which shows that as the
food was digested it was appropriated to growth
and fat without being thrown off AS heat
The value of good shelter is In maintaining the
heat of the body. AS the heat is produced from
the food it is apparent that the warmer the ami
NAL is kept in winter the less food is required to
supply its wants AS the winter is an excellent
time for fattening the stock. owing to outdoor
work being suspended, there is no better assist
ant for that purpose than good. dry quarters.
Before the animal lay on fat the or
binary demands for the heat of the body
must be provided, and during very severe and
cold seasons the animal cannot even appropriate
sufficient food to create the necessary heat to
sustain life when exposed without shelter
Every pound of flesh lost must be renewed, and
every day that an animal is fed without gaining
in flesh is so much time lost that can never be
reganed. Shelter, then, is economical, in ell
abng the animals not only to supply themselves
with sufficient heat, but to store fat, and it
represents just so much grain hay. The
more complete the building for the purposes in
tended the better, and the more comfortable the
animals the faster they will increase in weight
One should not wait till the season becomes
cold before erecting the shelter, as good start
in the fall will materially assist the animals to
enter the winter full of vigor and well-prepared
to endure the cold, provided 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 Law
in winter if kept warm and comfortable