Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-12-30
Economy in Winter Feeding.
From the Philadelphia Call.

Animals require mOr5 food in winter
than in summer for the reason that the
radiation of heat from the body is great
er in winter, and the larger the animal
the faster the loss of heat. By the use of
the term radiated is implied the giving
off of the heat from the skin, but every
ounce of cold water drunk and every
breath of air inhaled assists in the loss.
The proportion of food required,
therefore, depends not only upon the
size of the animal, but also upon the
conditions surrounding it. The purpose
for which the animal is intended lntiu-
ence the result, as well as it's age and the
quality of food upon which it is fed.
The horse that performs labor requires
food suitable to a repair of the waste
muscle and tissue the fattening steer
needs food of carbonaceous character
while the dairy COW, yielding full flow
of milk, has the triple duty to perform
of providing milk and butter, supporting
her embryo calf and furnishing heat and
sustenance to her own body.
Economy does not consist in giving q
bare allowance, nor is it economical to
feed hay and grain in excess of that re-
CURED. The use of ensilage and roots,
though absolutely necessary to the thrift
of the stock, should be accompanied by
food of a more concentrated nature, in
order TO provide those elements that are
lacking in the more bulky food, and to
balance the ration SO as to complete it
for the purposes required. The use OF
linseed meal when corn is fed is not al
ways for the increase of carcass or milk
but to counteract the tendency TIC consti-
patton. Yet there are occasions when
such oily food is an absolute necessity
while the heterogeneous character of the
Iinseed enables it to take the place OF
some other material not SO easily attain
ed.
Good clover hay will supply all the
heterogeneous matter necessary, but in
severe weather an animal might perish
because carbonaceous elements were lack
ing, while the exclusive use of corbona,
ceous food, though tending to the pro
duction of fat, is lacking in nitrogen and
the phospOates, and is therefore incom-
plete and deficient. in feeding his ami
mails the farmer should therefore consider
the age, size, condition and health, shelter
purposes intended, stage of growth and
temperature of the atmosphere, and
should so regulate and balance the food
as to supply them with all they req uire.
But the cheapest and best labor-saving
and food-regUlator is good warm shell
ter. Every ounce of heat saved to the
animals by the protection against winds
and storms saves that proportion of food
that would otherwise be lost in furnishing
the heat taken away by exposure. Shell
ter is therefore food, in a certain sense.
and saves labor, because it is always with
in the power of the animals to appropri-
ate for themselves. No cracks, creYices
or leaks in the roof should exist. Damp
nese and cold are companions in there
influences. The wise farmer will not only
save food by providing warmth and pro
lection against external influences, but in
severe weather will SO proportion the
food as TO furnish that which is heat
producing, thereby not only economizing
bat preventing loss.