28 HOLSTEIN-FRIESIAN CATTLE 



tage,but they help to make the cows show up well, a great point with them, and 

 besides they prevent the cows ever standing with hind feet in the gutter and 

 thus dirty the stable, platform, and eventually themselves, another important 

 point. Probably somebody will think that the cows, slipping on the stall, would 

 fall in the gutter and thus get hung, or seriously injured, but experience has 

 taught them to be careful, and they seldom slip. When they do slip serious 

 consequences are avoided by the 'mis-step.' The gutter wall upon which the 

 'footboard' rests sticks out half a brick's length from under the 'footboard' 

 thus giving a foothold to the slipping cow, of which she quickly avails herself 

 to regain a safe position. 



"Our farmer by this time has got his stable nearly filled, and you notice 

 now as he slides the bridge along to the next stall that the one end of it rests 

 on this mis-step, and the other on the stable floor, and that cleats, nailed on the 

 bottom and resting against the sides of the gutter, effectually prevent its slip- 

 ping. Here are the next two cows, and as we are very much in the road, we'll 

 step on one of the stalls already filled and look at the mode of tying. Each 

 cow carries on her neck a sort of iron yoke, with open clasp. On this are strung 

 two chains, one of which is fastened to the partition about a foot from the wall, 

 and the other to the post at the end of the partition, two feet from the gutter. 

 If the cow develops a tendency to stand too far forward, the latter chain is 

 shortened and the former lengthened, which compels her to stand nearer the 

 gutter. If the reverse is desired, the second is lengthened and the first short- 

 ened. It is, however, of course, desirable to have the cows stand as far back 

 as possible, and the slooping roof in front has also a tendency to throw them 

 back when standing. 



"The last cow is stabled, the bridge is taken outside to be scrubbed off and 

 put away for further use, the farmer gets his scissors and starts to trim the 

 tails, the cows, which did not get much to eat to-day, have devoured the hay 

 and are bawling restlessly, and the farmer orders them fed from the grass piled 

 up outside the barn, or, if he is a progressive man, maybe from the preserved 

 grass. (Preserved grass is simply grass piled up into a big pile, often on top 

 of the ground, sometimes partly in the ground, the top covered with a few feet 

 of earth ; grass ensilage without a silo.) That done, the floor is swept and the 

 farmer left alone with his cows, save maybe for the boy who washes the tails. 

 Winter has commenced. Before leaving we'll take a look at the tail the farmer 

 has just finished. He has cut away all the hair on the upper part of the tail, 

 reaching even the long hair at the root of the tail. Only the switch is left, and 

 where it commences he has wrapped around the tail some long straws ; then 

 taking a bunch of hair of the switch, he has plaited it and the long ends of the 

 straw together till the plait was long enough to be knotted. Over this knot he 

 has slipped the leather strap of the tail line, fastened it, the knot preventing its 

 slipping off again. The cow, although she has the free use of her tail, cannot 

 drag it through the dirt when lying down, as the tail line reaches only from' 

 ceiling to within a few inches of the platform. 



"In order to see the dairy in good running order and to be able to note all 

 the small details of its management, we'll rise about 4 o'clock, one morning in 

 April or March, and leave the village with one of the laborers, who 'work on the 

 farm. After arriving there, after a five or ten minutes' walk, we arouse the 

 still sleeping farmer, and on being let in, our guide lights his lantern and we 

 proceed straightway to the stables. While our man takes off several coats or 

 wrappers, for the weather is cold and raw, and puts on in their place light 

 Overalls and jackets, for the temperature here is somewhere between 60 and 70 

 deg., Fahr. The cows, too, wake up, rise and lazily stretch themselves. Our 

 man has picked up an old broom and with it proceeds to clean such footboards 

 as need it and the mis-step. Then he picks up a small can with sand, hanging 

 on the wall, scattering a handful on every slippery stall. This done, he goes to 

 the lower end of the stable, takes a stick with a small board nailed to the 

 bottom, and with it shoves up the manure toward the stalls, thus allowing the 

 urine to pass off through a drain to a cistern outside. This done he goes outside, 

 but reappears immediately with a huge wheel-barrow and large, long-handled, 

 wooden shovel and begins to clean out the gutter. 



"Meanwhile the farmer and a couple of sons or hired hands, have^made their 

 appearance. The farmer himself opens one of the doors leading to the hay bins, 

 and taking enough hay on his fork for two cows starts to feed. Having fed 

 all, and carefully, with a new broom swept up all the hay he may have 



