[of interest ro farmers
WHY GROW HORNS
When one sees a cow’s udder
torn or her sides and flanks ripped
with the horns of some stable mate,
he is likely to indulge in consider
able conjecture as to just why
horns are allowed to grow. It is
easy to perceive why dairy cows
should be dehorned, but the prej
udice against dehorning is difficult
to justify. Many of the larger
breeders, showmen and most fanc
iers become dismayed at any sug
?estion of dehorning. These persons
eel that horns are perfectly nat
ural, they look upon a dehorned cow
as unfortunate and abnormal; they
reason that horns contribute greatly
to the appearance of an animal.
Horns were perfectly natural and
necessary for survival at one time
In the history of cattle, but that
time has long since passed. They
no longer serve the needs of de
fense but are used exclusively as
Instruments of torture. Dehorning
does rob an animal of some of its
“flash.” However, our concept of
flash could be easily revised to omit
horns. After all, flash is not par
ticularly significant, espiecially if
It hinges upon such a superficial
character as the horns. Some de
horned animals have achieved the
highest successes in show rings.
Pew judges or buyers will discrim
inate against a superior animal be
cause it lacks horns. All the flash
and attractiveness that horns would
provide in an entire herd could not
compensate for an injured udder on
a good cow. Incidentally, the quiet
docile, productive cow or the young
heiltr just admitted to the herd
for first freshening is the usual
victim. The outlaw “boss cow” of
questionable productivity does not
suffer injury.
The greater care in handling the
herd, the cheaper housing costs
that are possible and the greater
contentment of the cows are addi
tional reasons for dehorning.
----
FIXING DAIRY RATION
A guide for the inexperienced
man feeding dairy cattle given bv
most authorities on the subject, is
one pound of grain to three pounds
of milk for the Island breeds, and
one pound to four or five of milk
for the other dairy breeds. This is
an excellent rule, but it cannot be
followed too closely, says an experi
enced dairyman. In our herd of
pure-bred Guernsey cattle we sel
dom get up to 15 pounds of grain
per day for the Individual cow, and
never over that, although the test
ers catch more than half of our
cows and heifers at the peak in
excess of 45 pounds of milk daily,
and a number from 55 to 65 pounds
daily. According to the rule many
of these cows should receive 20
pounds of grain, or more, daily. The
outgo in milk, rich in fat and other
solids, would require this quantity
of grain. Yet we have found in
practice that to feed this quantity
tends to upset the digestive organs
and may throw the individual cow
off feed completely. For several
years we have met the situation by
fairly heavy feeding of the cow
when she is dry—7 to 12 pounds
of grain daily according to the con
dition of the cow. Bight pounds
daily to the cow in milk is
about as low as we ever go.
The last month or two of the
lactation period the cow will not
usually require this much grain for
her immediate output, assuming, of
course, that she is well fed on
roughages; but we are looking ahead
to :!ie next lactation period, plac
ing fat on her for a reserve against
the day when her output w ill exceed
her intake. It is at these times
wre can give the cow the extra
pounds of feed she will need when
she is flush, without harming her.
The cow should not be looked upon
as a day-to-day proposition, and
her feed juggled accordingly on the
grain scale. The entire year, the
following year, even the five-year
span should have thoughtful con
sideration. In many good herds the
cows are fed too heavy at the peak
and too light towards the end of
the lactation period and during the
dry spell. The longtime view will
eliminate some of our errors in
feeding.
PRESERVING POSTS
Farmers generally are aware of
the terrific annual waste due to
wood decay. Fence posts and the
posts used for roof support in cer
tain buildings are especially short
lived, since they are buried in di
rect contact with the soil and so
furnish direct moisture to the fun
gus growth. It is not a difficult
thing to incorporate poisons in the
wood which last for many years and
so stave off the attacks of the fungi.
Creosote and a number of other
chemicals, notably zinc chloride,
have been developed for similar use
with more or less similar results.
The fact that so few posts have
been treated with any of the ma
terials available probably checks to
the slight difficulty in ordering the
chemicals which are not usually
available at retail, to the labor of
treating, and to the small amount
of specialized equipment necessary.
Good commercially treated timbers
are available in only a few locali
ties. A new method and new ma
terials are now available, however.
The new method is the placing of
dry powdered or crystalline poison
in holes bored in the post at ground
line or in a ring around the post
some six inches below ground sur
face. The poisons are soluble in
water and so dissolve in the mois
ture entering the post from the
ground. In solution they are dis
tributed up and down the post, the
wood fibers acting as a wick. The
new poisons, which have been un
der test for the last 10 to 20 years,
are an arsenic dust and mercuric
chloride corrosive sublimate. The
former is the one recommended for
placing in a ring around the post;
OLD TIME PRACTICE TABOO
The usual method for inducing a
calf or cow to respond to the dairy
man s wishes is to “twist her tail.”
This procedure is established
through long usage; a dairyman in
voluntarily uses it to make an ani
mal rise or move into the stanchion
or out the door. All cow men recog
nize its propensity for securing de
sired results. But it also has some
undesirable results. In a great many
dairy herds there are animals with
deformed, dislocated and broken
tails. A method better than twist
toc the tail can be used. A calf or
| iii seiting new posts some also
should be placed in the hole. Th:
mercuric chloride is placed in three
quarter inch holes bored about twt
inches in the post at ground line.
One hole to the post has been used
but it seems better to use two on
opposite sides, three for large posts.
The mercuric chloride is mixed with
arsenic and common salt in equal
i volumes and placed in ihe holes, a
tablespoonful to each. The holes
are then corked with wood plugs.
The advantage of this type of treat
ment may be summarized as fol
lows: (1) Posts in some places may
be cut near the place of use and set
immediately. They need not be sea
soned. Advocates of the chloride
discourage peeling and advise set
ting as green as possible. Posts
treated with the arsenic dust ring
should be peeled. i2> Fast growing
tree varieties and small sized thin
nings can be used to give the same
lngth of life as larger untreated
specimens. i3i All work can be
done by inexperienced labor. (4)
The method requires no special or
expensive equipment. (5) The cost
is nominal—from 5 to 15 cents, de
pending on the amount of material
used, and exclusive of labor. (6t
Posts already in the ground may be
treated without removal, a thing
possible with no other process.
I.ATE WORK IN VINEYARD
There are several matters that
make for the successful growing of
the 1932 grape crop that should be
attended to in late fall. Black rot,
one of the verj common vine dis
eases of native American grapes,
is carried over to a large extent
through spores that are found on
the grape berries that have dried
or mummied during the previous
growing season and fallen to the
ground. Hence any means that
will place these mummies beneath
the soil surface to a fair depth
will thereby lessen the infection
of the succeeding year. Fall plow'- ,
ing, if the land is not subject to
winter washing, accomplishes this
end. Then, too, the turning down
of the rubbish about the vines in
the fall will destroy the hiberna
ting covering of the grape-leaf
hopper. Since this insect winters
as a flying adult, it is on the wing
long before any cultural practices
are operative in the spring In this
connection it is particularly im
portant that the rubbish likely to
accumulate in rasberry, blackberry
and strawberry rows, especially if
they are near grape vines, be like
wise cleaned out in November.. If
for one reason or another the fruit
has not been harvested from cer
tain vines it is necessary to go
through and clip off the clusters
even though they will not be used
at home or marketed. Normal rip
ening of the bud and cane tissue
does not occur if the fruit Is al
lowed to hang, and in consequence
injury from low winter tempera
tures is likely to result.
EXERCISE SOWS AND EWES
Plan wintering arrangements
for the brood sows and breeding
ewes to induce them to take ex
ercise. A flock seems pleased at
the opportunity to range consider
able distance and to glean and
browse even when there seems
little in the fields for them to get,
and it helps bring a sturdy lamb
crop the following spring. A field
of corn stalks, a grain stubble field,
a meadow, the borders of potato
patches, access to brush land, al
most any field which contains dry
remnants of vegetative growth,
even weeds, offers suitable brow
sing. With sows the matter of in
ducing sufficient exercise is less
simple. Pigs are much more sensi
tive to cold than sheep. Sows that
run with cattle picking up the
gleanings usually get good exer
cise and have the snow trod down
for thun so they do not get their
udders wet. Scattering their limited
grain ration over a floor so that
they will have to spend a couple
of hours in picking it up induces
a considerable exercise within
their quarters and is great help in
forcing action. By one means or
another induce your ewes and sows
to spend considerable time on their
feet during the winter.
ever try this?
One farmer has figured out a new
way of delivering feed to a large
bunch of feeding hogs. This farmer
piles the manure spreader high with
corn, drives to a clean, grassy slope
in the pasture, and evenly distrib
utes his load. A few lusty calls
bring the hundreds of healthy
shotes from the grove and the field,
and in a short time the entire herd
is fed. This method feeds prac
tically all the pigs at once, elimin
ating the crowding and fighting at
tendant upon the old method of
shoveling from the wagon.
DRINK MORE MILK
There are a few folks who cannot
train themselves to like milk and a
few others whose stomachs are not
fitted for handling milk. For the
great majority of people, however,
the simplest w'ay of making a bal
anced diet is to drink a quart of
milk daily, if every farm person
would drink a quart of milk daily
the dairy surplus would disappear
very suddenly and the health and
financial standing of the farm
families would be considerably in
creased. The slogan of "Drink more
milk on the farm” is a sound one.
CHICKS ON WIRE FLOORS
To lessen the severity of brooding
chicks on wire floors a strip of the
floor from three to six feet wide
across front part of the brooder
| room can be left unscreened and
covered with straw or other litter.
I Giving the chicks access to the
I floor litter in this way adds to their
I comfort and contentment and ap
| Pears to serveas a preventative of
the vices. Feed and drinking equip
ment is kept on the screened por
: tion of the floor.
cow has a “crazzy bone” in the end
, of the tail like the one every man
has detected in his elbow when he
has bumped it. This coccygeal nerve
in the tail is not well concealed but
readily exposed. If one presses the
end of his thumb nail directly
against the end of the tail he can
touch the “buton” and get instan
taneous response in the animals; re
sults are readily forthcoming.
-..
THISTLE ERADICATION
Salt fed to cattle on a patch of
thistles often results in the death
of these w-eeds. due mostly to thi
freouent tramoline
See* Regard for Dogs
Notably on Increase
A woman who Is a great lover of
animals recently told two Incidents,
or retold them, from the press, to
Stress her point that the wholly com
mendable, but rather limited, attitude
of “love me, love my dog" shows
hopeful signs of progress. She says
that this affection is rapidly being
itretched to include the other fel
low's dog.
“There was that tiny Item in the
paper the other day, for example,
about the dog that selected the mid
dle of a busy street In Bloomsburg,
Pa., for his siesta,” she said. “Little
noting the vast number of persons
who were affected by Ids discrimi
nating search for a shady spot, the
dog took a peaceful nap, according to
the Boston Globe, while 400 respect
ful motorists detoured around him.
! “Then there was that other dog
who had made himself unpopular
with his neighbors over in New Jer
aey because of his habit of barking
at night. The local police recorder
bad been notified, and the aged resi
dent who owned him was given the
and command to dispose of him. It
happened that the owner not only
actually depended on the dog for
companionship, but for errands at
which the creature had proved re
markably dependable.
“Well, the upshot of it was," said
the lady who loves animals, trium
phantly, "that GG persons, led by the
mayor of the town, heard of the mut
ter and testified in the dog's behalf.
Some of them, mind you, even gave
up their vacations so that they might
aid the case. And the dog was offi
cially forgiven."
Didn't Dare Brag
‘‘Does your husband ever brag
what a good cook his mother was?"
asked the caller.
"No,” smiled the young married
woman, "lie knows I know his father
died of indigestion.”
Aka!
Mrs. .Wife—I’m sorry, but dinner
la a bit burned tonight, dear.
Mr. Husband—Oh, so they had a
dr* at the delicatessen?
Cosmetics and Beauty
Lotions Among Indians
Although the forest was her drug
i store the brown skinned Indian maid
en suffered no lack of cosmetics
and beauty lotions. Some of those
used among the Thompson Indians
of the Pacific Northwest are record
ed In the annual report of the bureau
of American ethnology of the Smith
sonian Institution.
“When washing," says the report,
“a girl must stick four needles of the
yellow pines Into the llesh under her
arms until It bleeds. At the same
time she prays that her armpits and
all her skin will always smell sweet.
Frequently a girl will wash her face
and head with a decoction of the tops
of the yellow pine, believing that this
will give her a smooth, fair skin
and an abundance of hair.
“A young girl would frequently
wash her face and head with a de
coction of the stems and flowers of
the wild flax. She believed this
would give her a wealth of lmir and
a beautiful face.
"Branches of the great sliver fir
were used each morning by the young
gtrl In stroking her head and back.
She prayed at the same time that
these parts of her body would never
tire of carrying burdens. Her legs
and feet were also stroked with the
fir branches so that they might not
tire when slip was walking long dis
tances. During her period of train
ing the glr1 was supplied with two
large branches of the fir tree and she
had to pick the needles off one by
one, praying that she would never be
lazy. Also four large fir branches
were so placed before her hut that
going in and out she had to step over
them. She would do so saying: 'If
l ever step Into trouble or step un
knowingly Into the magic spell of
some person, may you help me, O fir
branches, with your power!’ ’’
If we can’t sell wheat to Europe,
let ns educate the Europeans to
pumpkin pie.
Some brag of their sins unless
there Is danger of prosecution.
Only the happy are truly great.
Crain Went Wrong Way
James C. Carver remodeled a large
building at Madison, Wls., to manu
facture cattle feed. Friends were
Invited to witness its first production.
Carver pushed a button. Wheels
turned. Workmen poured great sacks
of grain into hoppers, but nothing
came out ns the finished product The
building was searched from top to
bottom without discovering where
the grain was going. Carver went to
the roof. There out of a ventilator
spouted the mixture, and the lind
scattered It afar. A workman had
diverted the ground grain Into the
wrong pipe.
Left the Beditead
A young man registered In an On
tario (Calif.) rooming house for the
night. When the manager went to
the room to straighten It the next
morning, she found that the guest
had departed with two bed sheets,
one pnir of double blankets, a single
blanket, one spread and one pillow
slip.
Why are there now no saints?
KILL COLD GER
Clear* head instantly, yl
Stops cold spreading, jj
Sprinkle your
handkerchief during the dayl
—-your pillow at night.™
McKesson I ah oRUOnj
PRODUCT STQRESj||
Briefly Told
If you can't push, pull; if you can'
pull please get out of the way.
A lot of misery consists In sltnpl]
remembering.
The chiropodist believes in tigh
shoes—for others.
[For STRONG BONES
and TEETH
? Now is the time to help your children build strong Nines
and healthy teeth. The wealth of Vitamin D—and the mineral
salts—in Seott'i Emulsion of Cod Liver Oil, will help you do
j this. And doctors recommend its Vitamin A content too.
j This promotes growth and increases resistance to disease
j Scott’s Emulsion is also good for expectant mothers and
i run-down adults. It helps ward olt colds. Pleasantly
1 flavored. Easy to take. Scort A Bowne, Bloomfield, N. J.
j Sales Representatives, Harold E. Ritchie A Co., Inc., N. Y.
Listen to Seott'i ICmulaion'i "Romnneet if th§ Sen** ivory Sunday ani
I l uttsia* u11.SO p. m. our ih$ ( uiumtHui Ditiour*
A fanner never has time to be Complete practicality Is hearties#
bored. Be one. ness.
If one will not, the other cannot i Ever see two little boys ”p!aylnj
quarrel. I horse” uowadays?
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