THE GENESEE FARMER. 



341 



WINTEa SHELTER FOE STOCK. 



We have heretofore published several prize essays 

 on this subject, but as it is just now seasonable, we 

 condense from valuable essays to vs^hich no prizes 

 were awarded those portions most to the point. 



C. C. WiLSOX, Newfane, IST. Y., whose essay was 

 received too late for competition, says : 



"It is impossible to keep animals in good condi- 

 tion, unprotected from the cold, especially young 

 and growing ones. It is well knowu that animals 

 in cold countries require more hearty food than 

 those of warm climates. A certain amount of food 

 being necessary to keep up the natural heat of the 

 system, the greater the cold the more food required, 

 which not being supplied, the animal lives upon it- 

 self, or grows poor; much less food being required 

 when the animal is protected from storms and cold. 

 When protected, all food not required to maintain 

 the natural waste of the system goes towards in- 

 creasing the growth of the animal. To obtain per- 

 fect form, animals should be kept continually grow- 

 ing until they arrive at maturity. They are often 

 turned out in the spring so poor that it requires 

 half the summer to make them as good as they 

 were the fall before, — a loss of three quarters of 

 the year in the growth of the animal." 

 Another correspondent, M. B., observes : 

 " I have had good opportunity to see the effects 

 of allowing cattle and horses to feed at stacks, and 

 to pass the winter without shelter of any kind. I 

 am strongly in favor of shelter, and I will give'my 

 reasons. It saves one-third of the fodder that 

 would be used without shelter. It also brings the 

 cattle out in spring in a much better condition. 

 When I came where I now reside, the country was 

 new, with no conveniences for the farmer. We 

 gave our stock plenty of fodder — more than they 

 eat, but tliey drove one another about, — the snow 

 covered tlie hay before it was eaten, — the cattle 

 shivered in the corners of the fences, or any other 

 place that afforded shelter ; and with all the care 

 and attention I could give them under the circum- 

 stances, they c-arae out in the spring looking as 

 though they had been half starved. The cows did 

 not recover until the summer was half gone, and 

 the oxen were unfit to do spring work. I soon 

 construct.ed the necessary buildings for stabling my 

 cattle ; they paid for themselves in a few years, in 

 the hay saved and in the improved condition of the 

 animals : they would sell considerably higher than 

 when allowed to go without shelter. 



" It is almost impossible to winter calves with- 

 out shelter; if they survive the winter, they are 

 mere skeletons, and have to be lifted up before 

 spring, and never make anything but poor, raw- 

 boned, unprofitable stock. Sheep are many times 

 allowed to pick up what they can get for half the 

 winter; but the dead lambs, and probably dead 

 sheep, that lie scattered over the fields, tell the 

 profit of such a course." 



J. H. W., Mahoning, Pa., in addition to reasons 

 similar to the above, says: — "I eonsider one load 

 of manure made and kept under shelter, worth two 

 dropped all over the yard and left exposed to the 

 bleaching influences of the rain and tlie drying ef- 

 fects of the sun. In this respect. I consider it im- 

 portant to shelter all classes of stock." 



R. K. S., Grundy Co., III., discourses on this 

 wise : 



"Look for a few minutes at neighbor Ca!;eless' 

 stock, on the first of May. Don't look for com- 

 fortable sheds and stables,— they are not there. 

 Those horses' ribs, covered with thin hide, are vis- 

 ible ten rods distant, througli the openings in that 

 misnamed thing he calls stable, and the bonesof 

 his cattle threaten to spoil a whole box of cowhide 

 boots, while yet on the back of the animals. His 

 calves stand bracing, their flanks rubbing together, 

 and unearthly sounds istiuing' from the apparently 

 empty hides, sickening to the lovers of veal cutlets 

 and calve's-foot jelly. Many of his sheep, mere 

 attenuated wrecks, have paid the debt of nature, 

 and lie piled in putrefying heaps, — the balance of 

 the flock losing their wool, and the lambs looking 

 gaunt and deathly. His hogs are leaning against 

 the fence, reeling like a drunken man, and faintly 

 squealing for food and strength. Why is this so? 

 Simply because he neglected to feed regidarly good 

 and wholesome food, and left his animals to the 

 mercy of wind and storm, cold, wet, and hungry. 

 Can such a farmer sleep sound o'-nights? Does he 

 know how to enjoy life? 



"Xow look at neighbor Careful's stock the same 

 day. There are no ribs visible on his horses ; they 

 are fat, sleek, and healthy. His cattle chew the 

 cud of contentment. Instead of bitterness, — their 

 bones clothed in flesh, and their eyes beaming with 

 health and gratitude. His sheep retain their coats ; 

 their looks are suggestive of suet pudding; their 

 lambs. In Imagination, grace the dining table of the 

 village Inn, at three dollars per head ; and the well 

 larded pigs grunt satisfaction, and Piive promise of 

 yielding "rich treasures to their kind master. — • 

 ^N'eighbor Careful has evidently studied the art of 

 living, for he is in good flesh and health, and the 

 milk of human kindness fills his heart, ready to 

 overflow for the physical growth of animals, and 

 the mental growth and happiness of his fellow men. 

 "We say then, brother farmers, shelter your 

 stock, and feed them well,— it i^ a duty. ^ They 

 were given for our pleasure and benefit : in just so 

 far as we neglect them, our benefit and pleasure 

 are curtailed. Experiments, to say nothing of the 

 force of legitimate reasoning on this subject, prove 

 beyond a peradventure that they require less food, 

 thus saving many bushels of grain each year. The 

 health and condition of stock Is much Improved, 

 adding value to every animal thus cared for." 



An Aged Mare. — Danltl Goodall, of Ecorse, 

 Michigan, says the Spirit of the Times, ownes a 

 pony mare, formerly gray, but now white, who 

 was thirty-four years old last spring, and has pro- 

 duced twenty-six foals. The mare has never known 

 the luxury of a stable, nor the aid of a scythe in 

 procuring her food ; cropping with her teeth for a 

 living, summer and winter, and now presents the 

 appearance of six or eight years of age. She Ls fat 

 and healthy, and as active and spry as any colt, 

 and was daily expected to drop her twenty-seventh 

 foal. 



a w 



Bakk up the cellar, fixing the windows so that 

 light may come in and -Jack Frost be kept out. See 

 if everything is ready for winter. Subscribe for 

 the Genesee "Farmer for 1859. 



