TEE BEEF CATTLE INDUSTRY 



419 



Australia and other countries where 

 range conditions prevail, attempts have 

 been made to use a branding fluid, with 

 the idea of avoiding injury to the hide. 

 In New Zealand and Australia, a brand- 

 ing fluid has been patented which is 

 claimed to give a legible brand without 

 injuring the hide for tanning purposes. 

 A test of this material, however, showed 

 that it produces about as severe an in- 

 jury as the hot iron. In Arizona an ex- 

 periment was made with a mixture of 

 equal parts coal tar and barium sul- 

 phide. An ordinary branding iron was 

 dipped into the liquid and pressed firmly 

 against the skin. No scab formed over 

 the area with which the iron came in 

 contact and the design of the brand 

 could not be read. It was therefore 

 shown to be practically useless. In an- 

 other test of this material, a wooden 

 branding form was used with much 

 wider faced letters. The operation at 

 first appeared to be a success, since 

 scabs formed over the surface of the 

 brands. After the scabs were shed 

 however, the hair grew over a part of 

 the brand, obliterating the design. 



Period of pregnancy and other 

 physiological data, — In cows the aver- 

 age duration of pregnancy is 285 days, 

 the extremes being 240 and 336 days. It 

 is commonly noticed that heifers, small 

 cows and old cows usually calve a few 

 days short of the average period. Bull 

 calves may be carried two or three days 

 longer than heifer calves. At the Maine 

 experiment station, observations on this 

 point showed that the average period 

 for both bull and heifer calves was 282 

 days. The weight of calves at birth 

 varies ordinarily from 50 to 130 pounds. 

 At the Maine experiment station, the 

 average weight was found to be 73.6 

 pounds for both sexes, the average for 

 bull calves being 76.8 pounds and for 

 heifers, 70.1 pounds. 



At the close of the period of gestation 

 the cow ordinarily produces one calf, al- 

 though instances are known where two 

 or even three calves have been produced 

 at a single birth. It is also worthy of 

 mention that a certain percentage of 

 cows are barren for one or another rea- 

 son. The subject of barrenness or steril- 

 ity and its treatment has been taken 

 up under Diseases of Cattle. A curious 

 fact has been observed in the case of 

 twin calves, that where one is male and 

 the other female, the bull calf is perfecL 

 in all respects, while the heifer calf — 



called in such cases a free-martin — is 

 sterile; otherwise the free-martin does 

 not differ from normal heifers, and the 

 meat is sometimes, though erroneously, 

 supposed to be of superior quality. Dur- 

 ing the last month or six weeks of preg- 

 nancy, it is well to turn the cow on 

 grass, if in the spring season, or to feed 

 roots, silage or some laxative food if in 

 winter. The breeding cow should not 

 be either overfat or too poor. Both ex- 

 tremes should be avoided, for the reason 

 that the vigor of the calf is likely to suf- 

 fer in either case. After calving, it is 

 usually best not to return the cow to the 

 bull until a period of four or five weeks 

 has elapsed. 



Much speculation has been indulged 

 in regarding the factors which deter- 

 mine sex and a great number of theories 

 have been proposed for explaining this 

 matter. These theories have already 

 been discussed in Part I. It is suffi- 

 cient to say that none of them is satis- 

 factory by means of which the sex of 

 calves may be controlled at will. 



Oxen for draft purposes — Thus far 

 cattle have been considered from the 

 standpoint of meat production, and in 

 the United States the use of cattle ex- 

 cept for beef and milk purposes is of 

 very slight extent. Formerly, however, 

 oxen were used much more extensively 

 for draft purposes throughout the coun- 

 try, and the practice still prevails to a 

 limited extent in many localities. Thus 

 some farmers still find the ox a very 

 satisfactory and economic animal for 

 performing farm labor, in New England, 

 the central states, as well as in the south, 

 and, in fact, here and there throughout 

 the country. In the early days the 

 freighting done by large companies in 

 the western states was chiefly by means 

 of bull teams as they were then called. 

 Large wagons or strings of wagons were 

 hauled hundreds of miles by teams of 

 eight to 20 oxen. In various foreign 

 countries, oxen are used more exten- 

 sively than in the United States. This 

 practice is especially common among the 

 Latin races. In India, the zebu is com- 

 monly used for draft purposes, and in 

 the Philippines, the caribou. Likewise, 

 in Great Britain the ox was formerly 

 much more used for draft purposes than 

 at present. Occasionally, however, they 

 are still used, especially in Scotland. 



A good ox, for plowing or other farm 

 work, should be in medium condition. 

 If too fat he is lazy, and if too poor is 



