An Archway Shelter Through the Straw Stack.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 2, Issue 197, 22 November 1880, Page 2

An Archway Shelter Through the Straw Stack.

\_Amet ican Agt iculturist .]

With winter comes the piercing winds and the intense cold, and, unless well protected, the greatest suffering that the farm animals experience during the whole year. It is,the season when to keep the stock warm is no less a matter of economy than to keep them well fed; in fact, they are fed in a great measure to keep up the animal heat, the food serving much the same end that coal does to the furnace. This being true, it is reasonable to infer that an anjmal will require less food to maintain the proper temperature of the body were it warmed in part by other means. The inference is a true one, as thousands of experiments show—in fact, it goes without questioning that farm stock, when sheltered from the cold of winter, require considerable less food to keep in a good, thriving condition, than do those animals that are continually exposed to the weather. Shelter then has much more in its favor than simply the humane side, which alone is enough to warrant the comfortable protection of animals. There is an appeal to the pocket as well as the sympathy in the lowing of the shivering herd. All farmers, and especially those in the newer portions of the country, do not have stables for their cattle or snug sheds for: their sheep. They are called upon to make: the winter as comfortable as possible for their animals, with the limited means at their command. Sheds •.of potefl} with roofs of straw are extensively u&d' and with profit. Not long ago. we an archway shelter, under, or straw stack that was pensive and valuable device Tor stock protection. The “ ground plan ” consisted of two rail pens, of the ordinary sort fat the bottoms for small stacks, pladKi; near enough together so that an archway of poles could be made between them thus ; —The lower end of each pole was set a short distance in the ground, rested near the middle on the top rail of the pen and crossed with its neighbor pole from the other pen, and was fastened to it with wire at the top and also to a rider beam. Over this structure the straw stack was built, and when finished a snug shelter of considerable size was made beneath the stack, under which the cattle gladly took refuge in stormy -weather. The structure is a permanent one, the rails and poles remaining if necessary from year to year, or. if taken down, to be rearranged again in a short time just before the threshing is done. Such an archway shelter would not be out of keeping in many a well-kept barn-yard. If the stack is a long one a double archway may be made, and each will save many steps in doing the work of the barn-vard.