1904 
471 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
THREE FEEDING PROBLEMS. 
1. I have been keeping sheep for 20 years, 
hut I cannot get my lambs ready quick 
enough for early market. Can you tell me 
what to feed them? I have been feeding 
cracked corn. Should it be fine or coarse? 
Should they have any oats or bran ground 
In it? I have 30 lambs; they eat 12 quarts 
of cracked corn per day; January and Feb¬ 
ruary. 2. I also feed cattle and would like 
to know how to get the most gain in the 
shortest time without wasting my feed and 
without buying much. I have feed of my 
own as corn, oats and mixed hay and Tim¬ 
othy hay. 1 am feeding 12 quarts of cobmeal 
per day to each steer. My steers weighed 800 
pounds November when I began to feed them, 
and now I think they will weigh 1,100. I 
feed three times a day, hay twice, fodder 
once. Do you think it would be better to 
feed twice a day, water once a day at 10 
o'clock? What time in the day is the best 
to water? Should meal for steers be ground 
fine or coarse? Should it be ground on a 
plate mill or stone burrs? I have a plate 
mill, but it is hard to get all ground line. 
3. I have a six-year-old mare that is out of 
condition ; she is thin in flesh and coat rough; 
a strong enter, eating everything in feed 
line she can get, and bedding too. She is low 
in life; makes her blow to travel, but does 
not hurt her much to work. 1 would like to 
know what to do for her. n. M. 
Milford Mills, Pa. 
1. Much depends on what kind of a 
lamb the questioner has to feed. First, 
they should be of the mutton breeds, or 
type. Next, they should be well born, 
strong and fat. This will come only from 
strong parents. Rams and ewes well fed, 
but not fat. Then the ewes supplied with 
plenty of blood and muscle-making food; 
such as clover hay, oats, bran and lin¬ 
seed meal, supplemented in every case by 
roots. This will also put the ewes in 
shape to give plenty of milk, the very best 
and most essential food to get them ready 
quickly for market. If the above requis¬ 
ites are lacking, nothing afterward will 
supply their place. Evidently there is a 
lack ill some line, as lambs born at the 
time mentioned, eating nearly a pint of 
cracked corn a day each, ought to be fat 
and ready for market at 10 weeks of age, 
although corn alone is not the best feed. 
They like the cracked corn better than 
the meal; but I think the latter the more 
easily digested. A good ration is 50 
pounds of cornmeal, 50 pounds of best 
wheat bran or ground oats (if the latter 
are hulled, they are the best), and 25 
pounds of linseed meal. Put the grain in 
a box where the lambs can run to it and 
not run in it, and put in three times a day 
what they will eat up clean before the next 
feeding. They ought to gain not less than 
five pounds a week. 
2. The cattle certainly have not done 
badly, having averaged two pounds gain 
a day for five months. Doubtless they 
were a “growthy” lot. They certainly did 
not get a large grain ration. The question 
is, might they not have done better with¬ 
out increased cost? If they had had 
succulent food, silage or roots, there is 
no question but the same feed would have 
made more flesh. If for these mature 
cattle the oats had been exchanged for 
good bran and linseed meal (both selling 
this Winter for less per pound than the 
oats), and one-third of the ration in 
pounds made of them, two pounds of bran 
to one of the oil meal, instead of all cob- 
meal, I think they would have made more 
gain without increased cost. Probably they 
would have paid a profit on a larger 
amount of grain per day than that given 
them. I think they would do just as well 
on two parts of grain per day as three. 
This is largely a matter of convenience. 
The important thing is to give them 
enough of the right kind of food. If they 
are watered once a day, 10 o’clock is as 
good a time as any, so long as they get it 
that time each day. Their digestion will be 
better, and they will drink more (which is 
desirable) if they get it twice a day. Still 
it may be the extra labor involved, and the 
disturbance of the cattle would offset any 
benefit. If they could have the water be¬ 
fore them, that would be the ideal way. 
Theoretically it is better for the meal to 
be ground fine. Plate mills usually do not 
do this. If the writer has his own mill, 
and can grind his food with little expense, 
he is probably “ahead on the deal” when 
he considers the cost of hauling to and 
from the mill, the expense of grinding, or 
“miller’s tolls.” 
3. I should consult a good local vet¬ 
erinary about the mare (not a “horse doc¬ 
tor”). She may be troubled with worms 
or a dozen other things. Or she may not 
be getting enough food. Some horses re¬ 
quire much more than others. To guess is 
poor business, anyway, particularly when 
one guesses at arm’s length. 
EDWARD VAN ALSTYNE. 
HOW TO KEEP HAWKS OFF- 
I once knew a man who kept a few 
Guineas; he claimed they drove the hawks 
away and kept them away. Another sure 
way, if the chicks arc running with the hen, 
is to let the hen run loose with the chickens 
and she will take care of them from cats or 
hawks. w. w. babcocic. 
New York. 
I have over 2U0 White Leghorns, and not 
one is missing for over two weeks. I always 
shoot two or three hawks and tie them to a 
string two feet long and hang it to the 
enu of a pole 10 or 12 feet long and then 
stick it in the ground. The rest that come 
see their mates hanging to the pole, and 
then they soon forget that I have any chicks; 
anyway, they don’t come any more. 
i’ottstown, Pa. sam. s. bleim. 
We find the best way to keep hawks off is 
to kill as many as we can and hang the 
dead ones around the chicken yards from 
poles with about three feet of string, so that 
they will swing in the wind. This Is the best 
method we know of, and we have tried every- 
think we ever heard of. The writer spends 
three or four days every Spring in the woods 
just before the leaves are out, hunting hawks 
and their nests. I always break up the 
nests and kill all the old birds I can. I 
consider u.e time well spent. Aside from this 
method we think the next best is to get a 
few Guinea hens and let them run in the 
henyards. They are very noisy and scare off 
a great many hawks. They are also great 
fighters, and will fight a hawk when he 
swoops down for a chick. w. j. stokkk. 
New York. 
HENS THAT EAT EGGS. 
I had trouble with some of my hens eating 
their eggs. The most successful way I had 
was by tiling the point of its bill. Keep the 
hen busy and away from other fowls. 
New York. a. d. baumann. 
I have never had a hen to eat eggs, but I 
had a cock which acquired the habit, and I 
chopped his head off. I should treat an egg¬ 
eating hen in the same manner. 
Scc'y Iaingshan Club. b. t. matson. 
To prevent hens from eating eggs, clip 
off the end of the bill, both upper and lower 
mandible. Clip it too much and it will 
bleed badly, and if you do not do it enough 
it will not prevent the habit, breeders who 
feed little meat or animal food are rarely 
troubled in this manner; however, I shall 
continue to feed quite heavily of the latter 
at necessary times, and clip the bill if I 
find trouble. F. H. F. 
Andover, Mass. 
I have never had a persistent egg-eater. 
In my experience soft-shelled eggs are the 
cause of the egg-eating vice. In Winter, or, 
in fact, at any season of the year, when the 
hens, for any reason, don't get a sufficient 
quantity of lime to form good strong shells, 
many eggs are broken, the shells being very 
thin. Of course, a hen will always eat an 
egg if broken, and where there is a de¬ 
ficiency of lime, tne hen will eat the egg 
more for the shell than the meat. My remedy 
is to give them plenty of lime, usually in the 
form of oyster shells. If they still per¬ 
sisted, I should make the nests dark, and 
leave three or four china eggs laying around 
in the pens. I have been told that the hens 
will try to eat or break the china egg, and 
that their failure to break them seems to 
discourage the habit—that it is a sure cure. 
I have never had occasion to try it. 
New York. a. e. beldinq. 
Warts on Cows’ Teats. —Rub thoroughly 
twice a day for eight days with castor oil; 
sure cure for the worst cases. s. m. k. 
Sherwood, Ore. 
“What are the university buildings all 
lighted up for to-night?” “They’re giving 
a reception to Professor Ontrack. He has 
discovered a microbe that feeds on the 
microbe discovered by Professor Diggitup 
the other day.”—Chicago Tribune. 
“Are you going to re-elect that man to 
Congress in spite of the insinuations 
against him?” “Sure,” answered Farmer 
Corntossel. “Those insinuations have 
done him good. He hasn’t been so socia¬ 
ble and entertaining in years.”—Washing¬ 
ton Star. 
KILL5 PAIN 
QUICKER THAN 
ANYTHING 
IN THE WORLD 
SLOANS LINIMENT 
FOR MAN OR BEAST 
Penetrating-Kills Germs 
WHICH? 
Tubular or 
; Simple Bowl or 
Izzers or 
Right How or 
Waist Low Can or 
Self Oiling or 
Wash 3 Minutes or 
All the Butter or 
Best Butter or 
Tubular or 
Bucket Bowl? 
Complicated?; 
Hasbeens? 1 
Were Once? 
Head High Can? 
Oil Yourself? 
Wash Thirty? 
Most All? 
Medium Butter? 
Bucket Bowl? 
WHICH DO YOU WANT? 
Tubulars are dif¬ 
ferent, very dif¬ 
ferent. Just one 
iTubular — the 
(Sharpies. All 
the others make 
bucket bowls — 
oan’t make Tubu-. 
\ lars because they* 
are patented. Ask 
for catalog B-153. 
Sharpies Co. 
Chicago, Illinois 
P. M. Sharpies 
West Chester, Pa. 
s 
CIKNTIFIC CORN HARVTOSTKRS.—Out 
Corn quicker, better than any other. No ears 
knocked off. No mouldy fodder. Get catalogue 
It. FOOS MEG. CO., Springfield, Ohio. 
SMALLEY 
SAFETY BLOWE 
Only One Belt Required. 
6 
Size* 
of 
Self 
Feed, 
18 
Size* 
of 
DE LAVAL 
Cream Separators 
Are as much better than 
imitating separators as such 
machines are better than setting 
systems. 
Send for new Catalogue. 
THE DE LAVAL SEPARATOR CO. 
74 Cortlandt St. 
New York. 
Canal & Randolph Sts. 
Chicago. 
THIS TRADE MARK 
on a package guarantees to the public that It Is 
genuine. Beware of imitations. Substitutes yield 
the dealer more profit, but cost you the same. 
Bickmore’s 
Gall Cure 
is the quickest, 
hu rent ami bent 
cure known for 
llurncH*, Col¬ 
lar and Kadtlle 
Gulin, Scratches, ^ 
Greune _ Heel, 
Kneed Crack*, < __ 
just as"good for <g£ SURE AND WoRKThE LjORSE' 
Chapped, 1 orn - — —- ! - 
or Craekcd Teat* on cows. Sold by alt dealers 
and guaranteed by u». Sample mailed for 10 cents- 
Get It now and have It ready when you need it. 
BICKMORE GALL CURE CO., Box 519, Old Town.Me. 
Silos 
The Best Is Cheapest 
“Cold pressed” thread 
hoops, perfect fitting 
tongued and grooved 
staves (white pine or 
cypress) and patent air 
tightdoors distinguish the 
Green Mountain 
and Not-LI-Mah Silos 
from others. Perfect pre¬ 
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They last. Wealso furnish 
Gasoline Engines and En¬ 
silage Cutters, all sizes. A 
full line of Dairy and 
Creamery Machinery a.id 
Supplies. Free book shows 
how and why superior. 
Write for It at once. 
STODDARD MFC. CO 
Rutland, Vermont. '* 
Cutters 
BLOWER 
blow for themselves 
If given an opportunity. 
THE ROSS CUTTERS with 
carrier have always carried 
the endorsement of users 
of Ensilage Machinery. 
e can show you why the Ross 
the best. Write us for any 
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no trouble to auswor youi 
questions. 
Woll’s book on Silage, 10c 
S Ensilage 
54 
YEARS 
EXPERIENCE 
Largest manufac 
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Machinery in the 
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ROSS CUTTERS ARE 
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.Free Catalog No. 13 
TheE. W. ROSS CO., Springfield, Ohio. 
