Live Stock Breeders' Association. 151 



heavy feeding to bring them back to strength and vigor again. The 

 length of time required for a bunch of thin, weak wheat field calves 

 to get well started to gaining, either when grazed or full fed, must 

 have impressed itself upon every cattle man who has had experience 

 with them. All this is intended to be a word of caution against re- 

 lying too largely upon this class of winter feed rather than to dis- 

 courage a reasonable use of it. 



Of course, there is always considerable winter pasture in the 

 stalk fields in addition to the stalks themselves. The grass that 

 has grown during the summer along the fences, in the uncultivated 

 waterways, etc., cannot be utilized in any other way to advantage 

 than by running the cattle in the field after the corn is removed. 



We are gradually approaching a system of agriculture, how- 

 ever, which will not have stalk fields for the cattle to run on in win- 

 ter. The corn fodder will be field cured and fed to the stock direct, 

 or preserved in a silo. For the present, however, we are producing 

 more fodder on many farms than it would be profitable to utilize 

 in this way, and the stalk field is the inevitable result and must be 

 utilized essentially as it is now. The mistake is very common, how- 

 ever, of relying too much or too long upon the stalk field, i. e., of 

 requiring the animals to eat it out too closely before they are given 

 anything else. Such practice almost invariably involves a shrink- 

 age in weight. It goes without saying that any shrinkage in weight 

 is, under ordinary circumstances, unjustifiable. 



WINTER SHELTER. 



The practice of the farmers of the corn belt has been 

 open to some criticism along this line, but he has not blund- 

 ered so seriously as one not wholly familiar with all the facts 

 might suppose. At any rate, it is not necessary to begin the cattle 

 business in a rational way to build expensive barns. In the 

 latitude of Missouri, the cattle will be well off with free access to 

 a shed open to the south, wholly closed on the north, and with a 

 windbreak on the east and west. The shed should be so located as 

 to insure good drainage and should be deep enough to permit the 

 animals to keep out of the storm when it comes from the south, 

 but not so deep as to not be almost entirely flooded with sunshine 

 when the weather is clear. It is of the utmost importance that the 

 ground under the shed be kept dry. Under ordinary circumstances, 

 however, cattle should not be compelled to remain under the shed 

 either by confining them there or by having the lots so small, and 

 therefore so muddy that there is no other reasonably comfortable 



