Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1890-02-27
CARE or STOCK.
Some Good Suggestions an Old But
Important Subject.


Important Subject.
There is no farmers wife SO ignorant
Of the simple laws of nature as to at
tempt to bake loaf of bread with the
oven doors open. No thoughtful woman
would waste fuel in that way. And yet
are not some of the practices of farmers
quite as wasteful. Take, for example,
the loss of animal heat resulting from
insufficient protection of stock in win
ter. 1t is well known that in all warm
blooded animals heat is generated by
some mysterious process of combustion,
sustained by the consumed food, and. in
its absence, by the adipose or fatty
tissue OF the body. When the tempera-
ture of the atmosphere is lower than
that of the body, heat radiates, or passes
off constantly. If the air isvery cold,
the radia ton of heat is very rapid, and
unless the supply of heat is kept up the
temperature of the body would soon
correspond with that of the air. It is
clear then-the quantity of heat-pro-
ducing food necessary to maintain a
uniform temperature of the body being
in exact proportion to the loss of heat by
its passing off in the air-that a much
larger quantity of such food is necessary
when the animal is exposed to extreme
cold than if it is we'll protected. 1t is
the fuel which, burning night and day,
keeps the creature warm.
We do not say this as any thing new.
On the contrary, it is well known to
strange in the matter is that the prac-
tice of so many farmers should exhibit
a striking Indifference on the subject.
Many neglect to furnish warm quarters
for their stock, and others, who have
comfortable barns and stables, keep
stock all Or part of the time tout in
the cold" We have often seen mich
cows lying on ice and snow in a barn
yard much exposed to wind, without a
little straw to lie upon on cold winter
days. We desire especially to have it
understood that we do not advocate the
system of constant housing in close
quarters. deprived of exercise in the open
air, which, with high feed. is destroy
ing the nstitution of SO many herds
and f1ocks of breeding animals. Moth
ing can be more odiOus to the friend of
improvement in stock than this per-
nicious system. There is proper me-
dunn course between the two extremes.
The loss resulting from undue exposure
to cold is threefold. Extra keeping is
necessary to maintain the condition.
Here is a loss of forage. With warm
quarters there would be gain of flesh
instead of loss; without extra feed here
is a loss of condition. Constant suffer-
ing from cold exhausts and enfeebles
the nervous system, upon which de-
ponds the healthful performance of all
functions of the body. Here is loss of
health.
If there is some special drain upon
the system, such as the labor of horses
Or the production of milk by COWS,
which requires extra food, the neces-
sity for protection from cold is much
greater, for the animal heat must be
sustained first If that requires nearly
all the food, the remainder will be in
sufficient for work or milk, which must
be made up out of the stores in the
body.
Without abiding in specific terms to
every detail to be attended to, we de-
sire to urge farmers not to try to bake
their bread with the oven door open.
The farmer who stints the feed of his
stock during the winter months in order
to have something to carry to market is
foolish; the farmer who feeds his stock
well through the winter months is wise.
One makes his stock bring price far
more than the cost of the extra feed
given; the other has the pleasure of see
ing his ne1ghbors' stock sell readily at
the highest market price, while his own
is slow of sale and at reduced price,
Ohio Farmer.