THE FEEDING OF STOCK. 
305 
In winter cows do not yield as much milk as in summer, because a larger portion of their 
food is consumed in keeping them warm. If stables were fitted up in some mode by which the 
temperature of their bodies would be maintained by artificial heat, their milk would be in¬ 
creased, and their food diminished. It is impossible for them to consume hay enough in win¬ 
ter to preserve their temperature, and have aliment to spare for milk, when exposed in the 
open field, or even open sheds. It is well known that nutriment in itself is not all that is re¬ 
quired in feeding the domestic animals ; it must possess bulk. The stimulus of distension is 
required to favor digestion ; and all, or almost all the bulky kinds of food, as hay, contain ca- 
lorifient matter in large proportions. By this proportion, in obtaining bulk and distension, the 
stomach is less loaded down by a heavy diet. We give two or three quarts of provender to a 
horse, or cow at one feeding, and supply the stomach with fifteen pounds of hay : but to dis¬ 
tend the stomach to that amount with meal would be perfectly destructive ; the nutrient matter 
would be in great excess. If we take milk as the proper standard for the food of growing 
animals, we find that the proportion of calorifient to nutritive matter, is as one to two. This 
standax’d may be often referred to in feeding adult animals, provided we x - egard the working 
animal as requiring food in proportions equivalent to those of the gi'owing animal. When at 
rest, the proportions will be as one to six or five, instead of one to two. Work, or exercise, 
consume flesh and nerve, and hence the nutritive elements must be increased. At rest the ani¬ 
mal consumes the carbonaceous bodies, as starch, sugar, gum, oil and wax. Agreeable to 
theory, those compounds are suitable for a winter diet, inasmuch as they are rich in calorifient 
matters, when the animal is at rest; if worked, an inci’ease of nutrient substances is required. 
The principles contained in the foregoing remarks point out the necessity of pi’otection and 
warmth for our domestic animals in this climate. Shelter from storms is equivalent to food. 
A good barn is interest money, in stock or cattle, payable in May, at the rate of ten per cent 
on all investments of this kind. The estimate is probably too low if we take into account the 
profits of animals which have been sheltered, over those which have buffeted, unprotected, the 
north-westers of this climate- There is another point of considerable importance to those who 
rear young stock : it is a desideratum to promote their growth in winter. Usually fanners are 
satisfied, if their young stock survive the winter, and appear in the spring in a tolerable condi¬ 
tion. At best, young cattle are stationary during the winter, or their increase may be per¬ 
ceptible, yet it is not half what it should be, and might be by good shelter and the same 
amount of food. 
There is a peculiar condition which may be witnessed in ill fed animals, which is analogous 
to what occurs in some penitentiaries, where the inmates are put upon a starving allowance. 
It is this, the system is reduced to a point, by poor food and little of that, that the organs of 
digestion can not, or will not digest even the pittance of food allowed. The appetite is gone, 
and the food does not digest so perfectly as when more is allowed. It sustains and prolongs 
the life, but the system is debilitated, and the nervous system is the greatest sufferer. In man, 
want of food creates listlessness and indifference, and may even induce insanity. In domestic 
animals the system is enervated, but the natui’e of the case does not discover itself to us. The 
[Agricultural Report — Vol. in.] 39 
