GO STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTUKE. 



Secretary K. G. Baird gave a lecture entitled, "Farmer's Boys in llelatiou 

 to Farming." (See Lectures given at more than one Institute.) 

 John T. Fraser, V. S., gave the following lecture on 



AVINTER CARE OF LIVE STOCK ON THE FARM. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 



AVhen the two ends of the day seem to try to join each other at noon, in 

 December, the farmer should redouble his activity and watchfulness ; and 

 when the cold seems to strengthen, as the days begin to lengthen, in January 

 his care should not be lessened if he would be prosperous. 



Though the climate of this latitude forbids active operations in the field 

 during the winter, the thrifty farmer finds in his farm-yard and barns an area 

 which, if not large, affords him ample room for a great deal of work and care- 

 ful supervision, llis cattle can no longer shift for themselves to advantage, 

 and must be fed and cared for if he would find a balance in his favor in the 

 debit and credit accounts between him and them; and if he would make sure 

 of such a balance there are certain conditions which he must fulfill. These 

 necessary conditions are economy in feeding, preventing waste within the ani- 

 mal's body, and the preservation of the health and vigor of the animal. 



As to the question of economy in feeding, I cannot, I am sure, do better than 

 to refer you to the tables and remarks of Dr. Kedzie, published in the Eeport 

 of the Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture for 1878. They also answer 

 the question how to prevent waste within the body, so far as the body is depen- 

 dent upon the different elements of food, and is not affected by external con- 

 ditions. The external conditions come properly within the province of our 

 essay and we will consider them after studying the conditions of health in the 

 different animals of the farm-yard. 



In looking over a farmer's yard in this country we generally find a number 

 of horses, horned cattle, sheep and pigs, each class containing members aged 

 from young to old ; but for the purposes of our essay we may divide these ani- 

 mals into the following classes, viz: work horses, brood animals, growing 

 animals, or young stock, and those being prepared for the butcher, or fattening 

 animals. The treatment of the members of these classes may differ to a 

 greater or less extent. With many farmers the wintering of their work-horses 

 is almost pure expense, the only item with which the horse can be credited 

 being the manure he makes; and in such cases the farmer is justified in 

 economizing, as much as may be consistent with recuperating the iiorses, and 

 giving them a renewed vigor for the toil of the coming spring and summer. If 

 we examine the digestive system of the horse we will find that the stomach is 

 very small, compared with the size of the animal, " its average capacity in an 

 ordinary sized horse being from 3 to 3| gallons." I think we could ask no 

 better evidence of the fact that the horse is ill-adapted for consuming food of 

 any kind having a small nutritive value compared with its bulk. And in win- 

 tering idle horses the farmer should not allow them too much straw or poor 

 hay ; and a ration of grain should be given each day, which should be increased 

 as spring, with its season of labor, approaches ; in this way the horses will be 

 less liable to contract that much dreaded disease of horseflesh, viz.: the 

 "heaves" or pulmonary emphysema. It is a common practice with some 

 farmers to turn their horses to the straw stack for the winter. This plan has 

 the advantage of requiring but little labor on the part of the farmer, and 

 affording the horses the opportunity of taking ample exercise. But good shel- 



