540 Reading-Course for Farmers. 



/. To keep animals and other objects dry 



With respect to inanimate objects, the first purpose of barns is to 

 keep them dry. For this reason, barns and other outbuildings are com- 

 paratively limited in regions of small rainfalls. The writer recently saw 

 more than a thousand bushels of shelled corn lying in a pile on the ground, 

 wholly unprotected. The fall of rain or snow was so small during the 

 winter at this place as to cause the corn no material injury. 



Certain farm products require more protection than others. Indian 

 corn in the ear requires less protection than wheat or barley. This made 

 possible the growth of maize by the Indians in the humid climate of 

 America, while wheat and barley were developed in arid and semi-arid 

 regions where they could be stored in the open without injury. 



On account of their covering, domestic animals are able to resist a 

 considerable amount of dry cold. When the animal becomes wet, his 

 coat is not only no longer such a good non-conductor, but the evaporation 

 of water from the body extracts an excessive amount of heat. It requires 

 six times as much heat to evaporate a given amount of water as it does 

 to raise the temperature from the freezing point to the boiling point. 



In the high plains area of the United States between 98° and 104° 

 West latitude, although the temperature is frequently severe, there is 

 scarcely any fall of rain or snow during the winter. Thousands of head 

 of cattle are fattened in the open and many practical feeders maintain 

 that they do better entirely in the open, with perhaps a tight board fence 

 to break the wind, than they do when given sheds in and out of which 

 they can pass at will. The explanation seems to be that the cattle crowd 

 into these sheds and become overheated, the steam from their bodies 

 moistens their coats and when they go out into the open to feed, they 

 suffer greater injury than if they had not had the protection of the shed. 



The natural habitat of the horse being a cold country, he is able to 

 stand without injury considerable amounts of cold but is particularly 

 sensitive to dampness. Care should be taken to have the horse stables 

 dry. It is, of course, well understood that care should be taken to pro- 

 tect the horse from exposure after his coat has become wet from exercise 

 or rain. 



It is not merely to protect animals from storms that barns are built. 

 IVIany practical stockmen have been driven to building barns or sheds for 

 their stock because of mud in the feed-yard. 



It is important that an animal have a dry bed on which to sleep. The 

 practical feeder recognizes that a well-bedded ox fattens better than one 

 that does not have this essential comfort. Armsby has shown by exact 

 experiment that a standing ox expenderl 24 per cent of the energy in his 

 food in the effort of standing, which was saved when he was lying down. 



