Buildings and Yards. 541 



A wet place, as a manure pile, is recognized to be a bad place for hogs 

 to sleep, although it may be warm and to the hogs apparently comfortable. 



//. To maintain a proper temperature 



The importance of barns as a protection against heat and cold 

 depends on the climate in which the farm is located and the character of 

 the animals to be housed. The climate involves more than mere temper- 

 ature as shown by the thermometer ; it includes the movement of the air 

 (wind), and humidity. 



Horses will probably withstand more cold than mules. Mules will 

 certainly withstand heat better than horses. Sheep will withstand cold 

 better than hogs. Fattening cattle endure cold much better than cows in 

 milk. Mature animals will endure more cold than young animals. The 

 amount and character of food is a factor. 



Every animal expends a certain amount of the energy of the food in 

 masticating and digesting it. This energy manifests itself in heat, which 

 helps to keep the animal warm. The more an animal eats the more heat 

 is produced in this way. A much greater portion of the energy or value 

 of hay is used in masticating and digesting it than in the case of grains. 

 The point to get clear is that, in so far as the heat used in warming the 

 body comes from the energy of digesting the food, it is merely incidental 

 to the life orocesses and cannot be protected from waste by placing an 

 animal in a warm barn. Armsby, at the Pennsylvania Experiment Sta- 

 tion, has shown that a steer fed on timothy hay and a small quantity of 

 linseed meal, developed more heat from digesting the food than was 

 necessary to maintain the temperature of the steer in a room at 60° F. 

 This suggests that the steer would have been more comfortable at a lower 

 temperature without in any way interfering with the fattening process. 

 This further suggests the danger of keeping animals too warm while 

 being fattened. Waters, of Missouri, has made feeding tests with steers 

 in barns, in open sheds, and in feed yards without protection, during 

 three winters and has found in every instance that the steers in open 

 sheds did best, in feed yard without protection second best, while those 

 in barns did poorest. It is not at all improbable that the cattle in the 

 open shed did better than those in feed yards because of the protec- 

 tion from rain and snow rather than on account of any difference in the 

 temperature of the surrounding air. 



While cattle and sheep are successfully fattened entirely in the open 

 by the thovisands, especially in those regions where the fall of rain and 

 snow is small, cows in milk do better when protected in winter, par- 

 ticularly in New York State with its humid climate. 



