The Farm.

Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 18, 29 July 1893, Page 11

The Farm.

LIVE STOCK IK WINTER. “ An animal that is well wintered is half summered ” is an old hut true adage. It is based upon reason as well as experience. It is far easier, to run down any animal by neglect than to bring it up again by care, and it is far less expensive to keep it constantly in good condition. What is lost in winter can only be gained in summer at the expense of time and food, with a corresponding reduction in the profits. The practice of allowing the seasons to regulate the condition of farm live stock is (remarks the Australasian), unfortunately, too common. It is true that animals which are half starved in winter can be restored, but only at a large loss of food, which otherwise might have been made into' flesh, fat, milk, or wool. Sheep are especially subject to the adverse influences of neglect in this respect. Once a breeding flock is permitted to run down in the winter they rear a small, percentage of lambs, which getting a bad start in life, often remain : weak and unprofitable stock for the rest of their days. The clip of wool is also much lighter and less valuable than' when the flock is kept in a, thriving state all through the winter. The' same reasoning applies to dairy herds, and indeed, to every kind of faiun liye ; stock. When the cows are reduced to skin and bone in the winter months it heeds no argument to prove that, such animals cannot yield as mueh milk or butter the following summer as others which have received better treatment, and whose condition has been steadily maintained by a little extra food. Dairymen who figure out this question of feeding their cows in winter invariably come to the conclusion that the starvation plan is hurtful to the animals and unprofitable to the owners.