Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1890-01-17
EARN, FIELD AND GARDEN.
DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF
FARMERS AND DAlRYMEN.
The Care OF Animals on the Farm-Proper
Management in Feeding and shelter
ing stock so as to Bring them Safe
ly Through tho Winter.

60 .
At this season the domestic animals
require more than the usual care in feed
ing and in protecting them from the in
clement weather of the winter months.
A failure to give them proper attention
through this period, will, in most sec
TONS not only cause the loss of much
they have gained through the summer,
but often leave them in such a poor and
emaciated condition in the spring as to
make the raising of them wholly un-
profitable. Generally, it may be said
that farmer who cannot afford warm
stablipg for his cattle and horses cannot
afford to raise them. The profits in farm
ing are now too small to permit of any
loss from the want of proper care and
management, either in the productions
of the soil or the feeding and fattening
Of stock.
/ Warm shelter having been provided
/ for the comfort Of animals, their food
should be adapted to their natural habits
and special requirements. Illuminating
animals have capacious stomachs calcu-
lated for the reception Of bulky and
fbrous food and should not be fed on
concentrated food alone. Where whole
corn is fed to cattle, much of it fails to
be assimilated and passes out in the drop
pings. Such feeding is wasteful, to say
the least. When whole grains are fed.
it should be in connection with chopped
food, SO that it may be raised and be
remasticated. Then again, corn meal
when fed alone is often found III the
manure but little changed. This teaches
the lesson that concentrated and coarse
food should be fed together, so that, in
the case Of animals that chew the cud,
what is swallowed may be remasticated
and fairly digested.
Cattle housed in the stable should have
comfortable positions and bedding. An
other special requirement for the health
and Improvement of animals in the sta
bic is the cleanliness. which can only be
obtained for them by daily mot occa-
sionaD grooming. Every animal should
be curried, brushed and kept clean if it
is to make a good appearance in the
spring. The practice that many persons
have of leaving the filth of the stable ad-
herring to their cattle until they shed
their hair in the spring cannot be too Sc
verely condemned The skin of animals
has the same functions to perform as
that of the human race. No better ex-
ample of the advantages of keeping the
skin of animals in a clean and healthy
condition can be given than is afforded
in the sleek and shining coats of careful
ly groomed horses.
Some Of the attentions that animals
require from their keepers are not of the
most pleasant or agreeable kind, but they
are such as no good farmer can afford to
neglect.
Again, one should study the nature
and different dispositions of his animals.
Some are naturally kind and docile and
give but little trouble; others are high
spirited, wild or perhaps vicious Such
require treatment adapted to the case
1t is not necessary to use brutal treat
, ment in teaching an animal that it:
keeper is master. Striking an ANNA
on the head is one Of the very wors
forms of correction.
Draught animals should never be taxed
beyond their strength. Balky team:
; have almost invariably been made SO by
overlooking or bad driving.
1t should be remembered that animal!
, have good memories and the habit Of
doing over again what they have done
before. The horse of the butcher OIL
milkman comes to full stop at the righ
places in his daily rounds from the force
of habit He has been accustomed tC
stop there. He remembers it and stop;
again. This very faculty. however, il
one that often gives his owner trouble
When horse stalls at u bad place in thu
road and after repeated whippings is un
able to pull out until the most of his loaC
has been thrown Off, he must be an ex
ceptionably good horse if he does no
balk there the next time, even with
light load. When horse stops at tn
foot Of hill and refuses to go further
it may be set down as certain that he ha
had trouble there before and remember
it. Occasionally horse has been S
badly spoiled by heavy loads and inhu
man treatment while going up hill tina
> he will instinctively stop at the foot Of
:, declivity he has never seen before.
Heating Water for Stock.
- An Indiana stockman in talk abou
l.