EIGHTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART X. 665 



ECONOMY IN FARM OPERATIONS. 

 Breeders' Gazette. 



I sometimes really wonder if there are any of us who do not take 

 many more steps each day than we need, to do our regular daily work. 

 Is it not too true that we often go about our work in a roundabout man- 

 ner when we could save time and energy by using a little forethought? 

 "We allow our season's work to come upon us unprepared and then 

 hurriedly plan some temporary arrangements which usually stand indefi- 

 nitely, however inconvenient they may prove to be. Perhaps in the 

 spring we discover the ground in condition to turn and suddenly remember 

 the plowshares are dull and the harness needs oil and rivets. In the fall 

 maybe rough weather sets in and the feed lot and racks are not in 

 shape to use. 



Now from my first statement I would not have you think that I am 

 at all in sympathy with any short-cut method if it comes at the expense 

 of efficiency. I never yet have seen any pressing the button system for 

 doing the chores around the barn that impressed me as being altogether 

 satisfactory. I remember when my older brother and I were small we 

 were entrusted with the milking of several cows. Not being particularly 

 fond of this kind of work, as it sometimes happens with boys, a notion 

 crept into our heads that it would mean a great saving of labor if we 

 could draw all the milk from but two teats of each cow and still get the 

 same amount; four were more than a cow needed anyway — for any sensi- 

 ble boy need not be told that a cow's udder is one undivided vessel. 

 Accordingly, unbeknown to my father, we tried the experiment on one 

 of the cows for two weeks with dire results, when we were compelled to 

 abandon the experiment and very nearly the cow. But you see we were 

 trying to improve upon one of Nature's ways of doing things, which are 

 invariably far ahead of anything that man can devise. 



Suppose we are feeding a bunch of steers on shock corn from the field 

 and want to feed twice a day. It is so easy to set aside a lot for the 

 purpose, patch up a few boxes and begin operations. Then it follows 

 that the team must stand in the barn with the harness on all day and 

 be hitched up again at night to haul feed, or perhaps they are busy in 

 the field when they must drop their work for the feeding. Only a few 

 hours' work in the fall would put a partition through that lot, which no 

 doubt is too large anyway, and thereby one round in the morning would 

 place feed in the racks on one side for morning and the other side for 

 night; then at feeding time in the evening all that is necessary is opening 

 a gate and the work is done. This necessitates a few more racks, but 

 this outlay is not to be compared with the saving of time from their use. 

 I have used this plan for several years and find that one round will bring 

 very nicely enough fed for twenty head of cattle. 



