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ARTICLE THREE 



The farmers of this country suffer a large annual loss by failure more to feed the animal out of doors and little meat goes on his 



to shelter their live stock. The amount of this loss, like the loss jibs to show for it; but every fork of hay consumed by the shel- 



trom rotting crops, is difficult to estimate because figures have not tered ox gives a return when the butcher buys the animal, 



been collected, and from the nature of the case cannot be col- The same is true of hogs and sheep. They are pulled down by 



lected with any degree of accuracy. cold rains as cattle are. Farmers are beginning to learn, partieu- 



It is remarkable that the value of the domestic animals in the larly in the case of hogs, that confinement in a pen is not ueces- 



TJnited States happens to be almost the same as the value of the sarily shelter. There must be a roo/ to shed the rain and snow, 



farm crops. Each varies from year to year, but the differences as well as restraining rails and bars. The hog is as sensitive to 



between the two classes of the agriculturist's wealth are compara- cold as the horse, and he brings little profit to his owner if he is 



tively small. The value of the farm crops in 1909 was $5,487,- left to root and shiver in winter weather. 



000,000, and of farm animals, including domestic animals not on The only means of measuring the loss incurred by farmers by 



farms, the year following was $5,461,.53.5,136. Some of the leading the neglect to house their domestic animals is by percentages, 



items which made up the total for 1910 were the following: The differences are so great in different .-egions and even on 



Poultry 295.880.190 Value $ 154,663,220 adjoining farms that actual figures compiled in one instance would 



Cattle 61,803,866 Value 1,499.361,799 he no safe criterion for other localities. There is no question that 



ilofsos'and'mules:::;::; 24;i48,5S0 ValSe 2,535:ioo;900 in the worst cases, where neglect is most pronounced, the loss 



Sheep and goats 55,362,986 Value 245,811,658 amounts to one-half of the selling price. Prom that it grades 



More than half a billion dollars' worth of domestic animals are down to little or nothing in cases where the stock is housed in 



not on farms. Most of the animals in this class are horses and warm barns and is fed abundantly though economically, 



cattle kept in cities and villages, and they cannot be considered Few investigators place the average loss due to the custom of 



as belonging on farms, and they are not included in the above i.roviding no shelter for animals at much less than ten per cent 



table. of the annual value; but in order to be safe, let it be placed at 



It is a matter of interest, though not of much importance and five per cent. On that basis the farmers of the country are losing 



not particularly pertinent to this investigation, that the value of about $2.30,000,000 a year. The investment of less than half of it 



ostriches in the United States in 1910 was $1,696,220. The average in larger barns and more shed room would save the other half and 



value of an ostrich is three times that of a horse. add it to the farmers' working capital. 



In many parts of the United States farmers have long been Every dollar so invested would be a permanent improvement of 



accustomed to neglect their four-footed property. Horses, cattle, the farm. The barns would not need to be built more than once in 



sheep, and hogs have been left to find what shelter they can in a generation, and if well constructed and properly cared for, the 



time of storm, and very often with little other feed than what they buildings will stand for a century, if not longer. 



can pick up in bleak woods and snow-covered fields. In the early Thousands of farmers are not in need of this advice. They know 



years of settlements it was often difficult to do otherwise, because their wants and have already taken action. They have ample sheds 



the pioneer farmer was frequently hard put to it to shelter and for all their stock, adequate barns for all their crops, sufficient cover 



feed his family, and was obliged to leave his domestic animals to for their tools and agricultural implements, and the result is visible 



shift for themselves. It is not the long ago, however, that is now in the farms' general tone of prosperity. But there are others, 



under consideration, but the present. They are drifting along in the old way, trying to make ends meet 



How much are farmers losing now through failure to properly and to squeeze some profit out of their farming operations; but 

 .shelter their live stock? The neglect is nationwide and varies the leaks are so great that success is always more or less in doubt, 

 in degree with the different parts of the country. Many farms These are the farmers who need a closer alliance with lumber- 

 house all their animals, as they house all their forage and grain men. Such an alliance will place the farmers on the road which 

 crops, and all their agricultural machinery. These are the pros- leads to ^^greater prosperity. The increased value of the farm 

 perous farms. They have perfected their alliance with lumbermen animals will soon pay for the roofs that shelter them. The 

 and are profiting by it; but there are thousands of other farms response will be immediate. Every new and better barn built on 

 where the need of shelter is painfully apparent. the stock farm is an insurance policy which matures every year 



Most horses are provided with shelter in winter, particularly in and pays premiums. It is the very best kind of policy, because 



the northern and middle western states; but it has not yet dawned it prevents losses and adds to the capital, while the ordinary 



on many a cattle raiser that he is standing in his own light when policy is intended to do no more than repay actual losses, and it 



he fails to furnish his cattle with shelter. Agricultural colleges nearly always falls short of doing that much. 



are doing much good by helping to break the custom of turning It may be summed up that the farmers of the United States 



stock out in storms to shiver when they ought to be warm and might save not less than $600,000,000 a year by building more 



asleep under roofs. The extra feed required to winter a bunch of barns and sheds. They would effect a saving of $100,000,000 an- 



cattle in the open would sell for enough to make a good start nually in agricultural implements; $2.50,000,000 in farm crops, and 



toward providing a shelter, to say nothing of the loss of flesh due $250,000,000 in domestic animals. Every dollar put into such 



to cold rains and pinching winds. improvements will be a permanent, active investment, constantly 



It is not necessary to quote figures on the feed saved and the yielding returns, 



weight gained when cattle are housed. Agricultural investigators There probably will never be a better time to make these im- 



iiave figured it all out, and they are making some impression on provements than the present. Lumber of the kinds needed is now 



the farmers who are still set in their ways and who still do as reasonable in price. It may be expected to increase in cost from 



their sires before them. The ordinary observer can note the appar- year to year, for the tendency of values is upward, though it is 



ent difference in prosperity between the farmer whose fields con- not probable that the rise will be rapid. The actual records taken 



tain sheds and barns, and the one who leaves his cattle to huddle from the bocks of certain lumber companies who have been handling 



behind a fence for shelter from the north wind. .building lumber show that the rise in price of such lumber has not 



The city butcher can tell the difference between the stall-fed been nearly so rapid as has been the increase in cost of other building 



ox and the gristly steer whose humped back tells the story of his materials, but the farmer who takes steps at once to provide needed 



struggles with the January snows and the March rains. There is buildings will be making a profitable investment at an opportune 



little comparison between the profits from the two sales. It costs time. 



