342 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
May 13 
CONTRARY CATTLE. 
A WOMAN FREES HER MIND 
PART I. 
Two brothers whom we will call David 
and John Smith owned adjoining farms. 
David was very anxious to make farm¬ 
ing pay and one day in the fall after har¬ 
vest, the two brothers were talking over 
the crops and prospects for the winter, as 
farmers will. 
“I’ll tell you, John, how J intend to 
make some money this winter,” said 
David. “ I shall sell my hay and feed 
my cows straw.” 
“ I don’t think that will pay you very 
well,” said John, and for awhile they 
argued pro and con. Finally John said : 
“ Well, David, you feed your cows 
straw this winter and I’ll feed mine hay, 
and by spring, or before perhaps, we can 
prove all the facts in the case.” 
One cold winter day as farmer John 
was passing farmer David’s place he 
heard a terrible shouting at the barn, 
and stopped to see what it was all about. 
He found farmer David trying to get his 
cattle out of the barn to drink. He was 
lifting and tugging with all his strength 
at a cow that was lying down. 
“ What’s the trouble with your cow ? 
Can’t she get up ? ” 
“ Oh, yes she can get up if she has a 
mind to, but she’s so all-fired contrary 
she won’t,” was the reply. 
“ How many contrary ones have you, 
David ? ” 
“ Well, I believe there are six in all.” 
Having staid awhile and watched the 
cattle, John told David to feed his cows 
good hay instead of btraw and they would 
not be contrary, and David decided he 
would feed hay in the future. 
A farmer in this vicinity who tried 
feeding straw has now concluded that 
the place for the straw is under the cat¬ 
tle for a bed, and would that all farmers 
could be convinced of this fact! The 
conditions producing such “ contrary ” 
live-stock are very favorable on far too 
many farms, especially on those man¬ 
aged by the “farmin’ don’t pay’’class 
of farmers. Not only do they feed straw 
alone, but they are also guilty of other 
kinds of cruelty, for nothing less than 
cruelty will lead to the ruinous condition 
of the cattle. Some farmers evidently do 
not exercise common sense in wintering 
their live stock, keeping more than they 
can provide shelter for and trusting their 
animals wholly to the tender care of the 
hired man, which is the quickest way I 
know of to get “ contrary ” cattle. 
The only service the average hired 
man is fit to render about the care of 
live-stock unless the eye of the master 
is upon him, is to clean the stables, and 
while doing this there should be nothing 
in them except the manure and the man, 
for if the cattle are there they are tremb¬ 
ling for fear of him. We have been of¬ 
fered “ six good straight cows ” for our 
three. Ours are common native cows, 
but do about twice as well as such ani¬ 
mals generally do, but it is all in the 
feed and care and not the breed. The 
owner feed3, waters and milks them or 
sees the work done, and they are sleek, 
fat and shining and as frisky as colts. 
One hired man who had the entire care 
of a farmer’s cows was trying to borrow 
tackle blocks with which to raise them 
and said he was all tired out lifting 
them so much to get them up—another 
case of “ contrary ” cattle, you perceive. 
Aside from the suffering of the cattle, 
what a harmful condition for cows that 
are to give milk to be used as food! It 
takes most of the cow’s energy to get 
strength for the next winter ; instead of 
putting fat into the milk during the 
summer, she is putting it on her bones. 
An abused cow will not pay half what 
she would with kind treatment and 
plenty of everything to make her com¬ 
fortable and the expectation of kindness 
from the person who cares for her 
instead of kicks and curses. The pure 
• • cussedness ” that is in the average hired 
man is beyond the comprehension of 
many, and we have tried both the high 
and low-priced help and there is very little 
choice. They are certainly nothing but 
a source of loss to a farmer if they have 
the care of stock, particularly cows, for 
there are so many ways in which a good 
paying cow can be made a very poor one 
by the hired man. In these days it is a 
crime for a farmer to trust live creatures 
to the care of hired help, for there is no 
dependence or honor about them; all 
they care about is to shirk work and get 
a soft job and big pay, and in most cases 
the better they are treated the more 
insolent and unreliable they are ; kind¬ 
ness to them is wholly unappreciated, 
but is returned with interest if bestowed 
upon live stock. 
It is next to impossible to get such men 
to do work according to the farmer’s 
directions, and they act as if they were 
the bosses, particularly if they think 
there is work that must be done in any 
event. While the horses and mowing 
machine stand idle in the uncut meadow, 
the hired help lying in a shaded rook 
hold forth in speeches after this fashion 
(This is a fact, too, the master being sick 
in bed and no one but a girl to look after 
the work) : 
“ Now, boys, the country is in such a 
condition that no help can be had for 
love nor money, and we can take it aisy 
and so we will.” About this time the 
girl told them they had better go to 
work, and because even that much was 
said to them, there was talk amoDg 
them of leaving the horses in the field 
and all quitting at once. They were 
getting the highest wages paid, but 
thought there was no boss, and unless a 
farmer can do as large corporations do— 
hire a man to work and another to boss 
him—or be constantly at his post himself, 
there is nothing but loss in hired help. 
Now for a few illustrations from actual 
experience, or trustworthy sources. 
An old man entirely dependent on 
hired help, except what little he could 
do, got some of his ribs broken, and his 
hired man, who thought his services 
were indispensable, walked into the room 
where he lay and said he couldn’t work 
any longer for him unless he had $23 per 
month (he had been hired for $18 ) The 
old man told him he need not work an¬ 
other minute. Another old farmer who 
had let out his farm, thought he would 
try to get to the barn one day ; so about 
milking time he got his two canes and 
managed to get near enough to hear ter¬ 
rible pounding and swearing. He called 
and asked: 
“ What needs such a pounding as that 
there in the barn ? ” 
“I am making that red cow behave,” 
was the answer from the hired man. 
“ Well, I never had occasion to pound 
the cows when I could take care of 
them,” said the farmer, and with that 
he got back to the house and told his 
daughter that her cow was being abused, 
and she would have to attend to it, and 
she did. Two men were hired by the 
day to draw in hay, as it threatened rain; 
the farmer raked and the daughter 
bunched. They drew in a couple of loads, 
and, after the farmer had gone out of 
sight in another meadow, both the men 
began bunching the hay, although there 
was plenty bunched ready to load. After 
a time the girl said: “Guess you had 
better load, I can bunch it all right; ” 
but they paid no attention. I knew they 
heard, and finally said, “ Say, did you 
hear what I said ? ” At that they began 
loading, but said they were never bossed 
by a woman, and never would be. They 
kept loading until the load was very 
large, and I saw it was their plan to get 
stuck with it, and then I told them they 
could go to the barn, and they went. I 
told father about it when he came back, 
and they asked him who was the boss on 
this farm anyway. He called them fools, 
and told them the hired help wasn’t boss 
yet and wouldn’t be, if the hay rotted on 
the meadows. cabrie t. meiqs. 
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