The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1889-02-08
Bedding For Stock

1t is perhaps impossible that an
finals confined in stables, sheds or
or other close quarters should not be
more or less affected by or contain
mated with cxcrement and foul air,
a condition of things that greatly
affects their well being as well as dim
minishes the value of their products.
This is a matter that every farmer
should duly consider and strive to
prevent or remedy for the sake of in
terest and tidiness, if not for that of
humanity. He that keeps his stock
well above a floor of filth by a liber-
al use of straw or other bedding, will
kindly add to their comfort and
greatly enhance his profits arising
from them. 1.-THE reasopableness of
a thing can teach one anything, than
one should learn that animals would
thrive most when comfortable. We
have seen pigs making slow growth
SO long as they were kept in filthy,
miry pens, take o new start in life, as
it were, SO soon as their dirty quart
ers were exchanged for comfortable
ones, and this with no Improvement
in their relations. Indeed, good bed
ding is the prime help to good feed
ing.
Good wheat or rye straw, perhaps,
makes the best bedding, as the large
hollow stalks will absorb large
amounts of liquid; but straw is not
the only substance that will make
comfortable bedding for cattle or
stock. Forest leaves are by no
mean a bad substitute. They are
not SO good an absorbent, but they
make a better manure, and as they
+ for the most part plentiful and
cheap, every farmer would do we'll to
secure in the Fall large quantities of
them for this purpose.
Another substitute for straw is
sawdust. This is a good absorbent
and makes a dry soft bed. In itself
it does not amount to much as a
a fertilizer, but when saturated with
urine it fel ments quickly and serves
to make land more porous and open,
as does sand, to the influence oflight
and air. In Winter, however, it does
not make SO warm q bed as straw,
but this defect may be obviated ny
using it rs an underbed, with an up
per one of straw or leaves SO used
last much longer, and the air of the
stable is kept purer by the greater
absorbent qualities of the sawdust
beneath.
Straw and sawdust may not be
found in all localities, but some
thing like alluvial soil orsod can be;
and as these are very good substi-
tutes, they should be used when
other substances are not available.
This alluvial, housed in a dry time,
is a good absorbent and adds great
ly to the virtues of the manure, be-
ing itself rich with saline material.
Another advantage in using soil for
bedding is that it makes compost
daily, and the manure keeps in better
condition-does not ''firetang."
Dry muck is sometimes used for
bedding, but it is rather dirty. 1t is
a good absorbent of liquids and
gases, but when wet it soils the cat
tie and gives them anything but a
clean, tidy appearance. Neither is it
so good a fertilizer as good alluvial
soil.
But, after all that can be said of
other substances for bedding, most
farmers will continue to rely on
straw, and as this is usually cheap
and abundant, it should be used lib
orally. And finally. aside from the
comfort it furnishes the animal and
the addition it makes to the store of
manure. the increased purity of the
air of the stables is alone a sufficient
reason for keeping stock well sup
piled with bedding.-James [. Baird
in the Rural Home.