94 Western Live-stock Management 



necessary in the range countries to provide cover for the 

 feed-racks or for the hay. 



Natural shelter is in many places as .satisfactory as 

 barns, as places protected from prevailing winds and storms 

 by hills, timber or brush and on well-drained ground where 

 there will be little mud. Cattle sheds are rare in the range 

 country even among the best cattle-men, but we find the 

 good managers all very carefully picking out the most 

 sheltered spots for their winter feeding. In much of the 

 semi-arid country, cattle will do better in a place well 

 protected by nature but without sheds than in an exposed 

 position fortified with a number of expensive buildings. 



In the rainy district of the Pacific Northwest, real 

 barns are required and they must not only shelter the 

 cattle but the hay and feed-racks. The popular barn 

 throughout all this region has the hay extending from the 

 ridge pole down to the ground and with racks and cattle 

 sheds around two or three sides of the central portion or 

 hay barn. The hay is forked directly from the mow to 

 the feed-racks. Dehorned cattle require about three 

 feet of rack room and fifty to sixty square feet of floor 

 space for each mature animal. Horned cattle require 

 more room and are a nuisance in a barn regardless of the 

 amount of space allowed. 



FENCING 



Without question the best fence for cattle is a good 

 woven-wire type, about forty-two inches high with a barb 

 wire on top about six inches above the top of the woven 

 wire, but such fences are usually too expensive for com- 

 mercial cattle so that as a matter of economy one is obliged 

 to resort to the old-time barb wire. Three barb wires 



