Show AGRICULTURAL I 0 Winter Feeding and Skelter bore is i no single matter in the cue stock of more importance than winter feeding and protection none more carelessly attended to by many who call themselves good farmers but who would be above the suspicion of cruelty in any degree to far as bodily injury to the stock is concerned Yet in traveling over tbe country bow many herds do we see illy provide with shelter and whose owners seem to think they have amply provided for the comfort of their stock when they have assured their feeding twice a day with hay with the privilege of running to the straw stacks and being driven to water once a day It is tr 10 stock wintered in this way will come through winter wth life tell even in severe seasons Tbey will in mild meters como through in passably fair store flesh but tbey have lost not onlv the flesh and fat gained tbe preceding summer but tbe uccceding summers growth cannot commence until tbe stock which has received proper food water and shel tr during the winter will have been far advanced in grant We believe in a country so rich ingrain in-grain and et the low price at which it sells on western farms that it never pays to let an animal lose what it has gained during the summei With such shelter aj any farmer may cheaply provide oven be it i but a rough frame of poles covered with slouch hay the sides boarded and banked cattle will indeed shrink in weight during tbe first part of tbe winter yet this is not to much a loss of flesh as a shrinking of tbe fluids of the body never so profuse in winter as in the summer This shrinkage in fluids is soon gained upon the approach ap-proach of soft weather and meantime mean-time the animals may bu thriving and growing if a liberal allowance of grain be given and to the profit of tbe feeder Two animal alike in every respect one allowed to winter Haelf will have eaten its head off I6t the end of five year while tbe other well fed from the time it is a call will weigh heavier and bring far more money at less cost at three years past tban tbe other at five years pastDuring the summer the young animal especially requires a large amount of salt compared to that of winter This however is a varying quantity nt all seasons so that no definite defi-nite rule can be laid down as to quantity It should always be kept where tbe animals cau take it at will There is no safer or better guide than tbe appetite of the animals Toe same u true of water It should be 1 ao provided that the tock can take it when tbey want it Certainly they should have access to it at least twice a day in winter Experience has shown tbat a temperature tem-perature of about 60 ° M most favorable favor-able for fattening animals when the beat results are to be reached When the temperature sinks much below 50 ° in the stable n correspondi g shrinkage will be found in the animal ani-mal To keep up the animal heat more and richer food must be given or fcl < e the system is depleted Hence our feeders use very means to make their stables as comfortable as possible pos-sible not keeping it at 60 it is true but to as near an approach to this temperature as is practicable There is nothing that better conduces tom to-m fortuity of temperature in stables and sheds than building in a pretty thick grove or else giving them tbe protection of cloae shelter belts With the protection of shelter belt sheds that will turn wind and rain with a liberal use of straw for bedding bed-ding cattle all over the prairie region of the west will go through tbe winter in fino condition and come out in the spring fully as heavy as they went into winter quarters In favorable inters by proper feeding tbey maybe may-be made to grow right along With leap corn and unlimitd stacks of bay and straw many weetern farmers think it does not pay to give stock much shelter The shelter pays fully as well where animals are fuly fed aa hero they are indiQereutly fed as our beet feeders know Thoso who make the least money on their stock are those who feed and shelter badly In no section of the country will this apply with more force than in tha west with its great stretches of prairie where tbe wind has as full weep almost as upon tbo ocean It is the forco of the wind that most seriouely injures stock in winter by lowing tbe animal heat away from the body which no amount of air can conserve On the other hand in a dill atmosphere even at extremely low temperatures the animal may remain comparatively comf rtable This it ia i more tban anything else that calls for the warmest possible shelter for stock all over the prairie region of the northwest tbe west and the southwest It is worth taking into careful consideration Praitte farmer Feed and Shelter for Sheep Which is the best feed for sheep in the winter ard the best fixtures for shelter ins them from the cold D H W Gocd sound bay with bright straw as to the rough feed So far as grain is i concerned corn is the cheapest and as a rule the best fed shelled and without grinding Far a change give them oats Sheep usually grind their food so thoroughly that grind log is not economical nor is it practiced prac-ticed except sometimes for finishing them in fatting Wellventilated close sheds or barns are better for keeping sheep These should be co arranged that the sheep may be graded ewes lambs wethers ni rams by themselves and pro vided with proper facilities for feed big Not more than twentyfive or thirty sheep should bo kept in one ompartaient Prairie Farm |