The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1888-10-18
SHELTER FOR STOCK.
How the Good naryman Should Care for
Ills Cows In Winter.


Did you ever think how much winter
shelter was worth to stock? Not shelter
that is the Intervention of an inch of
pine between shivering beasts and
frigid blasts, but a protection that in
sures to them warmth and comfort.
Drifting snow and bitter winds are not
SO far of but what the contemplation
of future. crevice-tight stables should
now be in the minds of all dairymen.
II is better TO prepare now than to
| meet the advent OF boreal terrors with
upholstered stable walls or loose bat
tens. There are some men who never
dig their potatoes till November clouds
begin to sift down the beautiful"
and then they will hastily hook the
slbers from frozen hills and pick them
Up with numb fingers. Such farmers.
dairymen, do not get their winter
stables in comfortable condition before
December storms have refrigerated the
flesh standing of their herds, and thus
produced IA weakening OF physical
forces at time when pristine vigor is
imperatiyely needed. Country gentle
men of leisure and means, who possess
model stable accommodations, have no
need to exercise precaution in the mat
ter of fall repairs. Their animal dwell
ings are too permanently and solidly
constructed TO be encroached upon BY
time or decay. But it is the average
common farmer who merits admonition
in this respect. We have in mind the
ordinary Woodworking agriculturist,
the owner or rentor of buildings in a
measure dilapidated. The stable wall
was laid up twenty, thirty or forty
years ago; it doesn't stand age like the
pyramids of Egypt. And SO now the
mortar has fallen out of the inequali-
ties of stone matching. which. to an
observer from dark interior would
resemble thousand scintillating
points of light, Through these minia-
ture apertures the cold frosty breath
of the snow king Is cxhaled with with
ering effect. The COW within humps
her back in doleful misery. and il she
had human jaws her teeth would chat
ter like Harry ellis" Suffice it to
say she diminishes the NOW OF fodder
with ii rayenous appetite, and her
owner finds that it takes one-third
more hay TO bridge her over from fall
to spring than neighbor Smith across
the way uses per head in his dairy.
Smith is a new tenant there, too, but
along in October he brought barrel
of lime home from the kiln and turned
| amateur mason. Sand and lime, trowel
and bod were the factors in his hands
that saved five tons of feed for spring
sale. sleek sides and world of CON-
| fort for his beasts.
1t is just as important to house cow
snugly as it is too feed her layishly.
would rather see an animal in warm
close stable on scant fare, than to have
her surfeited with food and keenly
suffering from exposure. But let us be
consistent in all things and negligent
in none. Now is the time to anticipate
the needs Of winter by a judicious in
spection Of the basement dairy quar-
tiers.
Soon we will begin to have sharp
night freezes, and hoar frost will
sparkle in the morning light; let such
weather find the cattle dry OF body and
supple of limb from an easy nocturnal
rest on Uttered stable floors. | have
seen cattle driven up for milking on
bleak autumn mornings, when their
Stiilencd joints and smoking backs bore
| open testimony of the neglect and mis-
management of their owaer. like u
Stable SO situated that il Will open on il
warm. sheltering barnyarl. Cattle
like to basli in tie sun on suashiny mid
winter days. and the solar baths do
them good, too. A high tight fence. or
a few outbuildings To the windward of
the bovine enclosure shuts off search
ing zcphyrs and leaves the barnyard
| calm and protected. Dairymen all
know the value of warm stables, but
sometimes their pure minds require TO
be stirred up by way of remembrance.
and that is why the writer now APP
peais To you to go around with a
| trowel in one hand and saw and ham
In the other, searching for apertures
and crevices in masonry and wood
| work. This amateur mechanic work
| will SO richly repay you for the time
spent that you will never hereafter
Neglect it. On the Western ranches
thousands of cattle perish every cold
season from exposure, and in the East
ern dairies large percentage su fer in
more or less degree from insufficient
shelter. May the winter of 1859 see
the ratio lower in this respect George
&. Nemel, in Amertcan Dairyman
"A raw egg broken into milk ven
calves to drink. is said to be an
rtrectual remedy for s..o,lls - F1, IN.