THE DEVELOPMENT OF ANIMALS 8 1 



on insufficient pastures and its development will be pro- 

 portionately hindered. The same result will follow should 

 the animal be able to secure a sufficient supply of food, but 

 at an expenditure of energy which does not admit of ample 

 time to rest sufficiently. The larger the animal that is sub- 

 jected to such conditions, the greater will be the relative 

 loss, owing to the correspondingly larger expenditure of 

 energy in carrying the additional weight over the pastures. 

 Beyond certain limits such requirement would result in an 

 actual loss of flesh, even during the growing period. The 

 effect upon milk production would be precisely similar. 



To keep animals in comfort, the heat within the body 

 must be maintained up to a certain degree. The food con- 

 sumed is the source of bodily heat. A certain amount of 

 heat is given off continuously through the pores of the skin. 

 Exposure to temperatures below what is normal for the 

 animal, increases the loss of bodily heat in proportion as it 

 is incurred, and just in that proportion will there be a drain 

 upon the food consumed to furnish such heat. This will 

 mean that just to that extent will its power to pro- 

 duce be diverted. The influence on decreased milk 

 production will be even greater than on flesh produc- 

 tion, for the reason first, that the milk producer must 

 also be possessed of a certain amount of flesh which must 

 be maintained before effective milk production can follow; 

 second, that milk producing animals are usually lower in 

 flesh than other animals and, therefore, are so much less 

 effectively equipped for resisting the influences of undue 

 exposure; and third, the entire organization of the milk 

 producer is more refined and, therefore, so far more delicate 

 than that of the male animal and consequently in so far 

 weaker is the resisting power referred to. The effect of 

 such exposure will be similar in kind with reference to labor, 

 though it may be less in degree. 



The accompaniments of low temperatures as wind, rain, 

 snow and sleet, are an additional drain on bodily heat when 

 they are present, and under some conditions severely so. 



