Book IV. 



BUILDINGS FOR LIVE STOCK. 



41 



-a" 



necessarily be served from behind, with much inconvenience, both to the cattle-feeder 

 and the cattle themselves. The plan that is most ajjproved, and now becoming general 

 when new buildings are erected, is to fix the stakes to which the cattle are tied about 

 two and a half or three feet from the wall, which allows the cattle-man, without 

 going among them, to fill their trough successively from his wheelbarrow or basket, with 

 much ease and expedition. It is also a considerable improvement to keep the cattle 

 separate, by partitions between every two. This will, in a great measure, prevent acci- 

 dents, and secure the quiet animals from being" injured by the vicious; for in these 

 double stalls, each may be tied up to a stake placed near the partition, so as to be at some 

 distance from his neighbor ; and it is easy to lodge together such as are alike in size 

 and in temper. The width of such stalls should not be less than 1^ feet, and the depth 

 must be regulated by the size of the cattle. 



2677. Cattle hammels (Jig. S53). The practice of feeding cattle in small sheds and 

 straw-yards, or what is called liam- 353 



viels in Berwickshire, deserves to 

 be noticed with approbation, when 

 saving of expense is not a para- 

 mount object. Two cattle are 

 usually kept together, and go loose, 

 in which way they are thought 

 by some to thrive better tlian when 

 tied to a stake, and, at the same 

 time, feed more at their ease than 

 when a number are kept together, 

 as in the common straw -yards. All 

 that is necessary is, to run partition- 

 walls across the sheds' and yards of 

 tlie farmers ; or if these are allotted 

 to rearing stock, one side of the 

 square, separated by a cart-way 

 from the straw-yards, may be ap- 

 propriated to these hammels. In 

 the usual management of a row of 

 cattle hammels in Berwickshire, there is one hammel (a, b) at one end used as a tem- 

 porary repository for roots and straw for the cattle ; then each hammel consists of the 

 open yard (d, a), and the covered part (c) : the entrance door, of which there is only one 

 to each hammel, is in the wall of the yard (/), and on each side of it are two troughs 

 (e, e) for food, and a crib for hay, straw, cut clover, or other herbage in summer. 



2678. Calf-pens or calf-stages, are common additions to cow-houses, where the feeding 

 of calves for the butcher is an object of pursuit. The principal thing to be observed in 

 the construction of calf-pens is, the laying of the floor, which should be made of laths or 

 spars about two inches broad, laid at the distance of an inch from each other, upon 

 joists, so as to make the floor about ten or twelve inches from the ground, as the situa- 



g^ 





1 



E a 



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354 



^. 



tion will admit {fg. 354.) This not 

 only keeps them quite dry, by allow- 

 ing all the moisture to pass immedi- 

 ately away, but has the advantage of 

 admitting fresh air below the bedding, 

 and thereby preventing that unwliole- 

 some disagreeable smell, too often 

 found among calves ; for it is to be 

 understood, that this place below the 

 floor (a) sliould frequently be cleaned, 

 as well as the floor itself, whenever it 

 becomes wet or dirty ; but it is not right to allow the litter to increase to a great thickness, 

 otherwise the moisture will not so easily pass through. Calf-pens are, however, too often 

 made without this sparred floor, and the fresh litter always laid on the old, till the calves are 

 removed, which is a slovenly practice, and not by any means to be recommended. Stalls, 

 or divisions, are too often neglected in calf-pens. Partitions, about three feet high, of 

 thin deal nailed on small posts, might be so contrived as to be moveable at pleasure, to 

 increase or diminish the stall, if necessary, according to the age and size of the calf. If 

 it be thought unnecessary to make the partitions moveable, there might be a small round 

 trough, in a circular frame, fixed in the corner of each pen, for holding the milk, and a 

 door in the next adjoining corner. A small slight rack for holding a little hay, placed 

 at the upper part of the pen^ might also be useful. The troughs should be round, that 

 the calves may not hurt themselves upon them, which they might probably do on the 

 angles if they were square. The advantages of this kind of calf-pens are, that the 



