FEEDING FARM ANIMAI 



a day may be sufficient to furnish water to store cattle, es- 

 pecially when on moderately succulent pasture and in cool 

 weather, but when kept entirely on dry food, they should 

 have it twice a day. When being fattened or fed heavily 

 for milk production, and largely or chiefly on dry food, 

 they should be given water at least twice a day to meet the 

 largely increased demand the increase in such food calls 

 for. Similarly the demand for water increases with sheep 

 and swine, with increase in grain fed. It is usually easily 

 possible to supply water to sheep where it will be accessible 

 much of the day or all of it, and this is the ideal way of 

 furnishing it to them. Ordinarily water is supplied to swine 

 in the slop fed to them, that is, it is given to them three 

 times a day, but generally when pushed as in fattening, 

 they should be given water additional to the extent of their 

 needs. 



The excretory organs, especially those of the skin, are 

 so active in hot weather that mr.ch water is needed to sup- 

 ply the loss. This means that it should be given more 

 frequently in proportion as the heat increases, otherwise it 

 is liable to be taken to excess. 



Opinions differ as to whether water should be given 

 to horses before or after meals. The preponderance in 

 opinion favors watering before meals to avoid washing out 

 much of the food too soon from the small stomach of the 

 horse, into the intestines. This would follow more or less, 

 watering deferred until after meals. Some persons favor of- 

 fering water before and after meals. With cattle, water is 

 more commonly given between meals. They seem better sat- 

 isfied when food is given before water. The stomach of cattle 

 and sheep being large, and therefore capable of holding 

 large quantities of water, there would seem to be no physio- 

 logical reasons why water should be given at one time 

 rather than another. 



Shelter from weaning onward. The degree of the 

 shelter required from the weaning period onward, va- 

 ries in the different classes of animals. It is decreasingly 



