302 CATTLE-BREEDING. 



nothing which empties the food-trough or, in 

 other words, which takes so much of the food 

 the animal eats to make warmth and merely 

 keep life going, as exposure. Too much of this 

 will exhaust the animal's nature and burn out 

 the life slowly, if not more rapidly in some active 

 pulmonary disease. Nevertheless some degree 

 of exposure is necessary to enable animals to 

 face the vicissitudes of life, and the great ques- 

 tion is how much ? For my herd, here in Central 

 Kentucky, experience has taught me that the 

 dry cows can stand all weather except a half 

 dozen very cold clays in midwinter, not only 

 without injury, but to their eminent advantage. 

 From this outdoor life they gain in health and 

 transmit to their offspring constitutions unim- 

 paired, so that the young bulls are able to go 

 out to the far West and compete with the 

 sturdiest in ability to meet cold and storm. The 

 pity that is moved by the miserable picture of 

 discomfort presented by a herd of cows in a cold 

 January rain is then not so truly pitiful as that 

 which sees in it a necessary evil of life which 

 brings advantage both to the enduring clam 

 and her yet unborn progeny. But on the other 

 hand, it is obvious that in Minnesota and equally 

 high latitudes a constant and warm shelter 

 will be needed for many months each year, the 

 only important modification being that the 

 period should be as short as possible. 



