The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1903-05-07
CRUELTY TO STOCK
PLEA FOR BETTER wINTERING OF
FARM ANIMALS
pr. Fitz Mathew Writes of the Need OF
Good Shelter rs Well as Good Feed
for Live stock;-Editorial Comments of
the Rural Northwest.

The April 10Th issue OF the oregon
Agriculturist and Rural Northwest
(Portland) contains the following ar
ticle by DIR. Fltz-Mathew, of West
Sound, this county, whose agricultural
education in England and supplement-
airy studies and practical investigations
in this country have given him a valu-
able fund of knowledge upon farming
and stock raising He says:
"Most of us are familiar with the pit
liable appearance of the unfortunate
animals which have no homes and no
provision or shelter for the winter,
seen on our public roads; mere frames
of bones covered with hide, almost too
weak to stagger out of ones way.
There are others, not much better OF,
relegated to a straw-stack and such
scanty picking as all old stubble field
affords, no shelter from the rain which
pours OH them day and night with an
occasional wet blanket of snow for
change. Then there is the work-horse
not needed till the ensuing spring,
which is condemned to an unvarying
diet of hay and straw for the whole
winter. The straw is generally dried
to fiberous condition before the grain
is cut, and hard to digest, and the hay
often bad Many horses die of acute
indigestion as the result, and others
are in no condition for the work they
are put to in the spring. We know
that thousands of animals both on the
range and in agricultural districts have
perished, many of which might have
been saved by providing proper food
for them.
"It is useless to appeal to their own
ers on question of humanity as
long as they regard with equanimity
the very hard conditions under which
their poor animals are struggling for
existence, but it can be demonstrated
that if an animal is worth keeping, it
pays to keep it well and that thou
sands of dollars are annually lost in
this way. The humidity of our win
ters renders the cold weather we have
more penetrating than low tempera-
ture in the dry atmosphere,of the east.
Animals subjected to exposure to cold,
and cold rains especially, lose flesh
rapidly. There is a waste of tissue
which can scarcely be counterbalanced
| by increased feed unless shelter accom-
pany it. This is especially injurious to
young animals which require much
more food in proportion to their weight
under any conditions or their develop
ment will be hopelessly arrested. An
| imals which have reached their full
growth require only sufficient to replace
! the waste of tissue; this, however, is as
shown increased by exposure to cold,
and by exercise. Finally it is not re-
spectacle to own stock which is kept in
state of semi-starvation and often
impelled by the pangs of hunger to
make breaches in fences. Much trou-
BILE and animosity is engendered in
this way. 1t should be generally
known that grass produced under a
comparatively low temperature is very
deficient in albumInous and fatty ele-
ments, hence it is essential that ami
mails should have a supplementary
ration early in the fall season to pre-
vent an early waste of tissue"