794 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



other by a light strip of board, quite a row of cattle can be 

 fastened or unfastened by a single motion of the hand, and on 

 this account, and as they cost but little, I recommend that they 

 be put in all cattle stables ; but in addition I would have a short 

 rope and snap for each stall, and a strap or short piece of rope with 

 a sliding ring on it round the horns of each of the cattle. The 

 feed can be put in the boxes and the cattle let in and secured 

 by the stanchions, and then at your leisure each one can be 

 fastened and the stanchions thrown open for the night. While 

 they are eating in the morning the stanchions can be closed 

 again and the snaps loosened, so that when you wish to let them 

 out you can do it quickly and easily. There is always some 

 trouble and risk of being hurt by the horns in tying animals, 

 and this is greatly reduced by first securing their heads in the 

 stanchions. I have never found a tie so satisfactory as the snap 

 and ring. With good, strong snaps it is impossible for them to 

 get loose, and the time required to fasten or unfasten an animal 

 is not longer than it takes to snap your ringers. If the rope or 

 strap round the horns can be secured so as to keep the ring in 

 the center of the forehead, it will be an advantage. 



For steers or fattening cattle I prefer the box stall, and if 

 one has room so as to allow the animal a stall large enough to 

 turn round in, it will be all the more comfortable, but a stall so 

 narrow that the animal can not turn, with a single bar to keep it 

 from backing out, will answer the purpose. This bar can be hung 

 on a pivot by a single bolt through it so as to turn it up when 

 open, and when closed it can be kept in place by a wooden pin 

 or some simple form of latch, which can be easily arranged. 



I do not think an animal can be so thrifty with its flanks 

 and horns covered with tags, or plastered with dung, and I have 

 never been able to keep cattle clean except on a raised floor or 

 with a manure ditch. I prefer the latter, and make it eight 

 inches deep and two feet wide. It should be water-tight, and 

 where tough clay can be had, all that will be necessary will be 

 to make it fifteen inches deep, with sides of good two-inch 

 plank, and pound six inches of clay in the bottom, and on this 

 lay a board floor 'to give a smooth, solid bottom. If clay can 



