70 The Bulletin. 



There are on many farms places for some of the smaller work animals, but 

 as farm improvements take place, and because of the different kinds of work 

 on most farms, there is also a demand for some larger animals to do the 

 heavier work. While the sizes of the animals needed may vary, the type of 

 the general-purpose animal will not vary to a great extent. Both for its keep- 

 ing qualities on a moderate amount of feed and of the least tendency towards 

 disease, the type should conform to one more or less rectangular or blocky. 

 Perhaps there are some specimens too chunky, but far too frequently are 

 they long-legged, long-bodied, rawboned and rangy. 



SOUNDNESS OF WORK STOCK. 



Some consideration should also be given as regards soundness, both as to 

 defects interfering with usefulness and as to blemishes reducing the sale 

 value. Such faults as vicious habits, bad eyes, heaves, and lameness should 

 be looked upon as undesirable. The most serviceable age at which to pur- 

 chase is shortly after maturity, near six years of age. At this time most of 

 the colt ills will have been over and one would expect the animal to be hard- 

 ened for service. 



CARE OF ANIMALS. 



After having purchased a desirable animal it should be worth some care 

 and attention to preserve its health and usefulness. Its quarters should be 

 kept clean and sweet, provided with abundance of sunlight and pure air, but so 

 arranged that the amount of both may be regulated. In hot weather, when 

 the animal is in the barn, it should of course be protected from the direct 

 rays of the sun, and in cool weather it should not stand in too great a draught. 

 Similar care should be taken of the animal out-of-doors when in a heated con- 

 dition, not allowing it to cool too quickly in rainy or cool weather. It should 

 either be sheltered, blanketed, rubbed dry, or exercised slowly until cooled out. 



The use of the currycomb and brush will add considerably to the comfort 

 of the horse as well as to the cleansing of the skin, so that it may more per- 

 fectly perform its duty of throwing off waste products from the body. 



Nail pricks of horses' feet are very common causes for lameness as well as 

 the principal mode of entrance for the tetanus or lockjaw germ; hence we 

 should be more careful in allowing nails to lie around, particularly in the 

 barn lot. A daily cleaning out of the foot is not a bad practice, at the same 

 time looking for foreign objects, a thrushy condition of the frog or the begin- 

 ning of a sand-crack. Some hoofs are more brittle than others, and require 

 an occasional soaking or application of a hoof ointment to prevent their crack- 

 ing. Too little attention is often given to the proper trimming of the hoof, 

 allowing the toe to grow excessively long, throwing too much weight on the 

 heel and unduly stretching the back tendons, subjecting them to strains— a not 

 infrequent cause for lameness. These same tendons are many times strained 

 by careless driving, by slipping and by being overloaded. 



OBJECTS OF FEEDING. 



If we were to ask why we eat, many would reply, "To live and enjoy our- 

 selves, at least while eating." 



In feeding the young our purpose is to have it grow and develop. 



In feeding a mature beef animal our purpose is not to make a giant of it 

 by additional growth, but to have it lay on fat uniformly distributed, produc- 

 ing the highly flavored, tender meat. 



In feeding the mature work animal, our purpose should be to have it do a 

 reasonable amount of work and at the same time maintaining its body weight. 

 This should hold true for the dairy cow producing milk, as well as for the 

 horse or mule at the plow or wagon. 



The needs of the mature work animal to accomplish the desired purpose, 

 then, are substances in the feed which will furnish energy^ like fuel for the 

 engine, and material from which the body can repair its constantly wearing 

 and wasting tissues. The more severe the labor the greater will be the wear 

 and tear of the tissues. 



