The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1895-12-19
FARMERS COLUMNS.
TIE GEORGIA EXPERIMENT station.
EXPERIMENT- GEORGIA.
Wiuter Care of livestock.
LB. THg DIRECTOR,

| Winter Care OF livestock
| p. THg DIRECTOR,
To say nothing Of the moral consid.
Grafton the duty the, farmer owes &c
his domestic animals to protect them
from the pain and suffering incident to
unnecessary exposure to cold winds and
ralns-thera is view OF the subject
that means dollars and cents, and which
Is often much more powerful incent.
| I've TIC effort than the higher motive.
| here IS the proper view of the matter:
IN Ieedlng an animal u large proportion
OF the food is consumed, literally burn
ed as fuel, for no other purpose than to
| Keep up the animal heat of the body.
II the temperature of COW falls below
| ABOUT lQl degrees, or that of horse be-
! low 80 degrees (Fah. }, it is proof either
OF very abnormal condition, or that
the animal is freezing to death AS a
matter OF fact the animal economy will
not permit the temperature to fall be-
| low these figures SO long as there is any
rat or flesh on the bones of the sufferer
that can be converted into fuel to keep
up that temperature. Yes, it is true
that II the normal quantity of food be
Withheld from an animal the fat, and
even the lean flesh, that was previously
laid up in the body, will be called on to
| 90 duly Ill the lungs as fuel And this
fact III the animal economy accounts
for the other fact: that when an animal
Is lnsufficlently fed it loses flesh 49, be-
| comes poorer and poorer until death re-
| leves 1t OF its sufferings The lungs are
just as truly stove for heating the
| body OF an animal as the common iron
| stove we feed with coal or wood is a
| continuance for warming the air in
room There is this difference: The
| fuel that we feed into the animal stove
must first be in the form of digcstible
food that may be assimilated by the
] stomach and converted into blood, in
| which form the fuel enters into the
lungs; while the iron stove may be sup
piled with wood, or coal, or cheap burn
| ing oil. But corn and oats and hay are
very expensive fuels, whether fed to an
animal, or to All iron stove. 1t is said
that the farmers in the extreme west
sometimes do actually burn corn in their
stoves or CRATES; but that is only be-
cause the treeless plains and coal-less
regions and the high rates of freight
|
! corn in that way. The cheapest way to
maintain the animal temperature is to
| protect the animals from wet and cold
winds from without, and from too rapid
| radiation from within, by means of wa
ter-tight and wind tight roofs and
walls. It will cost the farmer very
much less to keep out the excessive
winds and cold by means of suitable
buildings than to stuff the animal full
| OF grain and hay and convert the
| stomach into regular stove OF furnace.
Let any farmer try it and he will soon
be convinced OF a pair of evenly
matched steers or mules, of equal con-
dition and physical vigor, let him turn
one into al open lot, or a fifty acre field,
the other to be kept in dry, warm STALL
give each one of the pair enough Of the
same kind of food to keep him in the
same condition he was in at the begin
ming of the experiment; and the expert
menter will be astonished to find that
it will require nearly twice as much
food for s.ths poor outcast as for the
lucky one inside the stable. In such an
experiment of course much depends
upon the weather, but the result will
be more or less significant if the test be
i made during any one of our winter
| mouths.
Again, the argument is just as april
! cable whether the animal be fed for fat
| tening purposes, OF for milk, or for wool,
or for work. In each case the percent
age of the food taken into the stomach
that must be diverted from the real pur-
pose Of the feeding, to that of keeping
up the normal temperature of the body
will increase just in proportion to the
amount or degree of exposure of the ami
NAL to the cold. A man has no right to
expect his cow to give him full yield
OF milk whom he permits (forces) her to
stand in a muddy, filthy "eow- pen," in
all sorts of weather. Nor may he reas-
onably expect to fatten his hogs profita-
| bly, and economically under similar cir
cumstanCeS.
So, then, let every man who has not
decent shelter, that will keep dry and
comfortably warm every animal on his
premises, go to work at once and build
such shelter. Why, even the higher
quality OF manure that would be saved
under such favorable conditions would,
alone, prove more than good rent for
such structure. Every consideration
that might be named calls for action on
this line. The condition Of the barns
and stables, or the absence of such build
ings, is one of the surest indications of
the condition Of farming and of farmers
in any country.
Nor is it sufficient that the animal be
kept drv overhead around him he must
be kept dry under foot as well. See
that there is no chance for water to seep
| in, or to otherwise get in, to make q
mortar bed of filth under his feet.
Fortunately, in the Sunny South"
there is no necessity FOR very expensive
buildings and appliances for the care of
live stock. Not only is the climate com.
paratively mild, and the winter season
short, but the cost of building materials
Of all kinds is cheap, and labor is cheap
There is no good excuse for failure to
erect such buildings. A man who is
not able to construct comfortable sta
BILE for his horse or COW, is not able
to own such an animal for it is more
expensive to keep horse in an open lot,
or mere makeshift of a shelter. than