360 
AMEEIOA^n" AGEIOELTUEIST. 
[SEPTEilBEU, 
Feeding and Care of Farm Animals. 
PUIZE AKTICLE.—BY “ A WESTERN PAIiSIEl!.’' 
Cattle. 
Every intelligent farmer provides stables or good 
sheds for his cattle. Thej’ should be warm, light, 
and well ventilated. For cow stables, floors of 
plank, very slightly inclined to the rear with a deep 
gutter are best. Windows and ventilators should 
be fitted with sliding shutters, and be covered with 
wire screens to keep out flies in summer. For litter 
rise any dry material—straw, forest leaves, saw-dust, 
dry sods, etc., etc.—that will absorb the liquids. 
Sheds should be enclosed on all sides, and have 
wide sliding doors, which may be closed in very cold 
weather and in fly time. Grade the floors to slope 
to one side. All mangers need to be grain-tight, 
with bottoms at least twelve inches above the floors. 
Well cured Timothy and clover are best for hay. 
The coarse grasses, Hungarian, Millet, etc., are ex¬ 
cellent if cut just before or at the commencement 
of blossoming, properly cured and stored in a dry 
place. Clover and these coarse grasses are best 
kept in narrow hay-sheds, well ventilated at the 
■sides and having a floor, of poles or rails, raised 
eighteen inches above the ground. Clover can bo 
cured in such sheds much better if put in alternate 
layers with wheat or oat straw, or any of the coarse 
grasses. When hay or other coarse food is scarce, 
clean, bright straw may be used. It should be cut 
short, dampened, and have oil-cake meal or oat-meal 
and bran mixed with it, when stock will eat it clean 
and do well on it. In feeding hay in the stable, 
a cutter is almost indispensable. Hay fed in the 
yard is best uncut. 
Sweet corn makes the be.st fodder corn. Field 
corn is very good. Unless properly harvested and 
stored, it rapidly deteriorates. A shed for its pres- 
■ervation is shown in flgnre 1. This shed is sixteen 
feet wide and thirty-two long, nine feet high at the 
sides, and twelve in the center. The floor is of 
four-inch boards, laid an inch and-a-half apart, 
eighteen inches above ground. There are sliding 
doors at one end, and a window at the other. The 
fodder is separated into four-foot divisions by 
movable posts, which flt into slots in the floor and 
ceiling. Figure 3 shows the ground plan with the 
shed filled, except the two center divisions reserved 
for sheaf oats. The corn should be cut just as the 
grain is hardening, placed in shocks, and allowed 
to cure six to ten days, according to the weather. 
It is then bound into convenient bundles, with 
Fig. 1.—A FODDER SHED. 
straw or twine, and stored in the shed. The lower 
end of the stalk is worthless, therefore cut twelve 
to twenty inches high, according to length of stalk. 
Corn should always be used with coarse feed. 
Shell it; nothing is gained by feeding it on the cob, 
but often much Jost. For calves it is best cracked 
or coarsely ground and mixed with oats or bran. 
Sheaf oats are an excellent feed, or for variety 
when hay is scarce. If cut as soon as ripe, bound 
in medium-sized sheaves, and stored in sheds 
similar to corn fodder, the straw will be nearly 
equal to hay. Run through a feed-cutter, and mix¬ 
ed, stock will eat the whole and thrive upon it. 
Oil-cake meal, corn-meal, oat-meal, and cotton¬ 
seed meal, are all excellent for cattle when fed 
judiciously and with plenty of coarse feed. A very 
successful feeder has met with the best results 
with the following mixture : Two hundred and 
eighty pounds of shelled corn, and one hundred 
and twenty pounds of oats are ground together, 
one hundred pounds of oil-cake meal added, and 
the whole thoroughly mixed. This is fed twice a 
day, half a pound for each one hundred pounds of 
live weight of animal. With this and good hay a 
thrifty grade Shorthorn, two years old, ought to 
make a gain of about three pounds per day. 
There is no doubt that ensilage, when properly 
“ cured,” and fed in combination with other foods, 
is an excellent article for live stock. 
Roots. —The value of the root crop can hardly be 
over-estimated. Of mangels, the Yellow Globe 
seems to be the best keeper. The Long Red variety 
will generally give a greater yield to the acre on 
rich, deep soil, but the roots are far more difficult 
to harvest and handle. There is no great dilfer- 
Fig. 3.— GROUND PLAN OF FODDER SUED. 
euce- in the value of mangels and beets for feed. 
Carrots are valuable for both cattle and horses. 
When stored they should be “ ricked ” up like 
stove-wood ; they keep better, and room is econo¬ 
mized. The Half-long is an excellent yielder and 
easy to harvest. A good, roomy root cellar is in¬ 
dispensable to every farm. 
The best pasturage is Kentucky Blue Grass and 
Red Clover. It is the earliest and also the latest. 
On rich soil we have seen one acre keep two cows in 
flne condition through the whole season. A mix¬ 
ture of Red Clover, Orchard Grass, Meadow Fescue, 
and Timothy, makes a very satisfactory pasture. 
Do not graze a pasture so close that the sun will 
destroy the grass, or the frosts heave it out. 
<'are of itlileli Cows. 
Have the stable so arranged that it can be 
darkened for the cows in fly time. Provide abun¬ 
dance of pure water. They must have this to give 
sweet, pure milk. Keep salt where they can obtain 
it at all times. If pasturage gets short in late 
summer, feed green corn, clover hay, chopped 
roots, or meal at evening. Keep up their condK 
tion by all means ; remember winter is approach¬ 
ing. Immediately after the oat crop is harvested, 
the land may be plowed and sown with corn, either 
broadcast or in drills, and it will make capital fall 
feed, much better than turnips. If frost is likely 
to catch any of it, cut it and bind it in small bun¬ 
dles. After curing, store it in the fodder shed. 
In winter provide a warm stable, bed well, and 
keep clean. In very cold weather give tepid water 
to drink. Turn the cows out for an hour at mid¬ 
day. Supply all the food they will eat. Mix and 
vary it as much as possible, to keep up a steady 
flow of milk. Well-fed cows give rich milk ; half- 
fed cows, poor, thin, blue slop. To fasten a cow 
in the stall, buckle around her horns, or neck, a 
leather strap two inches wide,having a ring attached. 
To the manger tie an inch rope with a snap fastened 
to the end. The ring and snap can be quickly con¬ 
nected or disconnected. If you value the comfort 
and health of your cows, do not use that instru¬ 
ment of torture, the stanchion. 
Have regular hours for milking. We always obtain 
the greatest yield by milking while the cows quiet¬ 
ly eat their meals in winter, and while they chew 
their cud, or lick a little saltin a dark shed in sum¬ 
mer. A good milk pail is a four or six gallon can, 
having a movable cover with a hole in one side of 
it. Set a five inch strainer funnel in the hole and 
milk into it. 
After a cow has been served by the male, it is 
best to keep her in a stable away from other cattle 
twenty-four hours. The period of gestation varies 
somewhat, two hundred and eighty-flve days being 
the average. For two weeks before calving, feed 
very little grain of any kind. Hay, potatoes, man¬ 
gels, carrots, etc., are best to keep the blood cool, 
and the system relaxed in winter. 
Cal'Ves. —Calves do best when allowed to suck 
the cow. One cow should raise two calves. They 
should be suckled or fed three times a day until 
about seven weeks old ; after that twice a day will 
do. Never allow them to run with the cow. It is 
much the best plan to never let the calf suck a 
milch cow. Milk her, and feed the milk while 
warm to the calf. In about a week it may be 
mixed with s-n'eet skim milk, about half-and-half, 
gradually increasing the latter as the calf grows 
older. So soon as it shows disposition to eat, sup¬ 
ply it with oat-meal and bran mixed wet, or the 
“chop stuff,” now ground at most flouring mills, 
and bran, wetted and mixed in about equal propor¬ 
tions. Either of these feeds will sour in about 
twelve hours after being mixed ; keep it fresh, and 
wash out the feed box. Oil-cake meal, in very 
small quantities, mixed with bran and corn-meal, 
is very good. Tie a small bundle of hay before it, 
and renew when it has picked out the best. A 
mangel, or a few potatoes cut small, will be relish¬ 
ed and keep the bowels open. Put the calves on 
pasture as early as possible. Never allow them to 
run down or become thin in flesh. A small feed of 
corn-meal or shelled corn, oats, or “chop stuff,” 
and bran every evening will keep them in good, 
thriving condition. In winter vary their food, and 
keep them warm. See that they have plenty of 
good water, also salt. Bulls should be rung when 
six months old, and thereafter kept separate from 
heifer calves. Plenty of uncut hay, with some 
corn-fodder or sheaf oats, and a little grain feed is 
best for them in winter. 
Nearly all diseases to which live stock are sub¬ 
ject, are the result of neglect of the simplest sani¬ 
tary rules, and maybe prevented bytbe exercise of 
a little common sense. Never compost manure in 
a cellar beneath the stables, nor in an adjoining 
shed. The foul, noisome gases arising from the 
rotting mass, will poison the air throughout the 
entire building, and to compel animals to breathe 
it is the hight of folly. Fancy ventilators and 
clean floors will not remedy the matter. Manure 
and all decaying matter must be removed to a dis¬ 
tance from every part of a building, to keep it fit 
for live animals. Farmers who neglect these sim¬ 
ple precautions need not be surprised if strange 
and fatal diseases frequently break out among 
their stock, and inflict upon them great loss. The 
fanlt ■will be theirs alone. Never under any cir¬ 
cumstances change any kind of stock suddenly from 
one kind of food to another which they are not ac¬ 
customed to. Great and often permanent injury 
may result. Let such changes be gradual. For 
the treatment of bloat, use a trochar and canula. 
Every farmer should have them. They are cheap 
and are often the means of saving the life of 
stock. Full directions for use accompany them, 
and any haa-dware dealer can supply them. 
When a cow or calf is seen choking, grasp it and 
feel along the outside of its throat for the hard 
substance. When found, exert vigorous pressure, 
and slide the article up into the mouth. For 
scours in calves, feed new milk (heated near to the 
boiling point, and allowed to cool sufficiently) with 
oats, bran, and corn-meal dry until cured. Heavy 
milkers are most liable to garget. IVe prevent it by 
milking once a day the last month of pregnancy, 
and feeding cooling, relaxing food. Fomenting 
the udder once a day with tepid ■ivater is a great 
help. Watch the udders of pregnant cows for in¬ 
dications of garget, and relieve promptly. In three 
different instances we found it neeessary to regular¬ 
ly milk young heifers, of a strain of heavy milkers, 
nearly a month before dropping their first calf. A 
neighbor having one of the same strain refused to 
go “contrary to nature,” as he termed it, and the 
animal was ruined. In every case, after the calf 
has sucked the first time, the udder should bo 
drained of its last drop. This should be don? 
regularly twice a day until the calf takes it all. 
-w O 1 ^ 
Reducing Bones.— Sulphuric acid is the agent 
employed in reducing bones to a superphosphate. 
It is a very corrosive liquid, and when of full 
strength, ■ivill quickly destroy any flesh or clothing 
it may touch. Unless a person is fully acquainted 
with the dangerous qualities of the acid, -we un¬ 
hesitatingly recommend him to leave it alone. 
Bones maybe burned, and the ashes scattered upon 
the soil at the rate of two hundred pounds per 
