2l(i THE MANAGEMENT AND FEEDING OF CATTLE 



given makes the crop much more drouth resistant. 

 When foods are destroyed through excessive wet, if 

 this should occur sufficiently early, catch crops promptly 

 sown may sometimes be made to provide a sufficiency 

 of fodder. But the only thing that can be done to meet 

 prolonged winter conditions is to be prepared for them, 

 either by storing up every autumn a sufficiency of food 

 to meet the needs of the animals, should such a winter 

 occur, or by keeping the farm or ranch under rather 

 than overstocked. Overstocking, in all instances, means 

 diminished returns. 



Of course when it is evident at the approach of 

 winter that food supplies will probably be short, meas- 

 ures may be taken to make the most of them by secur- 

 ing their complete consumption through the entire win- 

 ter. These measures have already been discussed. (See 

 page 145.) 



Improving the ration as winter advances. — When cat- 

 tle are first taken in from the pasture they are usually in a 

 good condition as to flesh, and they are also possessed of 

 a corresponding degree of vigor. They are able, there- 

 fore, to turn to good account foods that would be less 

 suitable for them toward spring. As the winter ad- 

 vances the tendency is in the direction of lowering the 

 vital energies, including the functions of digestion and 

 assimilation. The aim should be, therefore, to feed the 

 less palatable and less nutritious foodstuffs first, and to 

 supersede these gradually b)' foodstuffs of better qual- 

 ity. But this aim should never be carried to the extent 

 of causing the animals to lose flesh in any material 

 degree at any time during the winter. To prevent this 

 when feeding the inferior foods it may be necessary to 

 feed at the same time a certain proportion of the better 

 class of food or foods. 



To illustrate: Suppose the feeder has on hand, 

 when the winter begins, such foods as sorghum, corn 

 fodder, stover, silage, or field roots, hay, and grain. Sup- 



