Cattle rustling

“ The drainage and cultivation of the dangerous soils is the main object. Until this can be accomplished young and newly purchased cattle not yet inured to the poisons must be kept from the dangerous fields and turned on only those which are already drained naturally or artificially. Further, they should have an abundant ration in which the local product of grass, hay, etc., is supplemented by grain or other seeds. ”

“ By day their cattle hung about the corrals, cropping the grass down to the dust, or if they did wander farther afield, came galloping madly back to the smudges. For two months any kind of travel had been impossible; clouds of the pests would settle on hands, face, neck quicker than one could wipe them off. Milking and choring had to be done under cover of a thick reek to an accompaniment of lashing tails, with frequent and irritating catastrophes in the way of overturned pails. ”

“ As they struck this rise, the feverish cattle raised their heads and pulled out as if that vagrant breeze had brought them a message that succor and rest lay just beyond. The point men had orders to let them go, and as fast as the rear herds came up and struck this imaginary line or air current, a single moan would surge back through the herd until it died out at the rear. By noon there was a solid column of cattle ten miles long, and two hours later the drag and point men had trouble in keeping the different herds from mixing. ”

“ In the matter of the cows, there has been no culling, added to which there has been in-breeding, and on both the sire and dam side following out the law that evil qualities intensify in posterity, the tendency has been down instead of up in the breeding of native cattle for forty years, to which the only relief has been a very limited introduction of the beef strains. ”

“ Milk-fever may, however, be produced by giving cold water immediately after calving, &c. Cows may be attacked immediately or in a few hours after calving; when four or five days have passed, the animal may be considered safe. There are different causes, no doubt; but bringing a cow from poor pasture and putting her on a rich and luxuriant one without stint, or from straw and giving her a full allowance of turnips up to the time of calving, are two of the greatest predisposing causes. As an example, I bought a cow in July off a poor pasture and put her on a rich one ”

“ It grows and flourishes under conditions which most injuriously affect almost every other kind of fodder and green crop. Prolonged drought in spring and early summer not unfrequently renders the hay crop a scanty one; while autumn and winter frosts change the nutriment of the mangels and turnips into decaying and unwholesome matter. Under such circumstances as these, the maintenance of cattle in good condition is very expensive, unless in places where a supply of furze is available. ”

“ If cut, it quickly shoots again, but is much injured by grazing; for all animals, especially pigs, tear it up, to get at the sweet nutty-flavoured roots. I have not tried how it would be relished if made into hay, but cattle will eat the dry thatch off the roof of a house in winter; their preference to Tussock-grass being so great, that they scent it a considerable distance, and use every effort to get at it. Some bundles, which had been stacked in the yard at the back of Government House, were quickly detected, and the cattle in the village made, every night, repeated attempts to reach them. ”

“ When the afternoon milking is over (about three P. M.) , they are fed with a bushel of turnips, and after the lapse of an hour, hay is given them as before. This mode of feeding usually continues throughout the cool season, or from November to March. During the remaining months they are fed with grains, tares, and cabbages, and a proportion of rowen, or second-cut hay. They are supplied regularly until they are turned out to grass, when they pass the whole of the night in the field. The yield is about six hundred and fifty gallons a year for each cow. ”

“ Cattle won't eat leaves unless they have to. And they don't browse so close, nor pack down the ground as hard with their hoofs. If there's grass enough to go round, cattle won't injure a forest much, but, of course, the grazing has got to be restricted or else the same sort of thing will happen that goes on when sheep are let in. ”

“ If any persons come near the calves they clap their heads close to the ground to hide themselves—a proof of their native wildness. The dams allow no one to touch their young without attacking with impetuous ferocity. When one of the herd happens to be wounded, or has grown weak and feeble through age or sickness, the rest set on it and gore it to death.
The breeds of cattle which are now found in Great Britain, are almost as various as the soil of the different districts or the fancies of the breeders. ”

“ I want to tell you that the cattle interests in that city are aroused. Why, our secretary showed me the figures from his books; and in the ‘Tin Cup’ brand alone we shipped out three hundred and twelve beeves short, out of twenty-nine hundred and ninety-six bought two years ago. My employers, Mr. Seigerman, are practical cowmen, and they know that those steers never left the range without help. Nothing but lead or Texas fever can kill a beef. We haven’t had a case of fever on our range for years, nor a winter in five years that would kill an old cow. ”

“ The well-known humped species of cattle predominates everywhere, being divided into many varieties. Owing partly to unfavourable conditions of climate and soil, partly to the insufficiency of grazing ground, and partly to the want of selection in breeding, the general condition of the cattle is miserably poor. As cultivation advances, the area of waste land available for grazing steadily diminishes, and the prospects of the poor beasts are becoming worse rather than better. Their only hope lies in the introduction of fodder crops as a regular stage in the agricultural course. ”

“ It is well adapted to almost every soil, though it seems to prefer a moist loam. It makes a profitable crop for spending, in the form of hay, though its yield is less than that of Timothy. It is well suited to our permanent pastures, where it should be fed close, otherwise it becomes wiry and innutritious, and cattle refuse it. It stands the climate of the country as well as any other grass, and so forms a valuable part of any mixture for pastures and permanent mowing-lands ”

“ But every farmer knows that it is not judicious to feed out the best part of his hay when his cattle are first put into the barn, and that he should not feed so well in the early part of winter that he cannot feed better as the winter advances.
At the same time, it should always be borne in mind that the change from grass to a poor quality of hay or straw, for cows in milk, should not be too sudden. A poor quality of dry hay is far less palatable in the early part of winter, after the cows are taken from grass, than at a later period ”

“ In cattle, on the other hand, which are kept at pasture in summer, or which are fed liberally on roots, potatoes, pumpkins, apples, or ensilage in winter, this concentrated condition of the urine is not induced, and under such circumstances, therefore, the formation of stone is practically unknown. Nothing more need be said to show the controlling influence of dry feeding in producing gravel and of a watery ration in preventing it. Calculus in cattle is essentially a disease of winter and of such cattle as are denied succulent feed and are confined to dry fodder as their exclusive ration. ”

“ Against the time when they are due to drop their calves you should arrange to give them access to fresh forage near the stable which they can eat with appetite as they go out, for at that time they are very dainty about their food. A watch out must be kept to prevent their frequenting chilly places, for cold depresses the vitality as much as hunger.
"These are the rules for raising neat cattle: the suckling calves should not be suffered to sleep with their dams, for they might crush them, but should be given access to them in the morning and when they return from pasture. ”

“ Hoove, or blown, so common, and often so speedily fatal in cattle, is the result of fermentation in the rumen, or paunch, in consequence of the animal's having eaten large quantities of wet grass, luxuriant clover, turnips, etc. An accumulation of gas is the result of this fermentation, which greatly disturbs the haunch and left side of the belly, causing much pain to the animal, and frequently threatening suffocation. ”

“ After passing twice or thrice through the fire the cattle are driven to their stalls or to pasture, and the heap of wood that had been collected is destroyed, but in some places every householder must take with him a brand, extinguish it in a washing-tub or trough, and put it in the manger where the cattle are fed, where it must lie for some time. ”

“ In traveling through a considerable portion of the country this week, we noticed that the wheat looked exceedingly promising. The contrast between the green fields and the dry grass and naked trees was cheering to behold. Cattle are in good condition; most of the farmers are provided with sheds or shelter of some sort to protect the animals, but we saw some small bunches of young cattle standing in unprotected enclosures shivering from the north wind; it is cruel to take them through the winter without so much as a wind break to turn off the scorching blasts. ”

“ Howk is perhaps the complaint to which my cattle are most liable. I have repeated cases of it every year. The animal is observed to be stiff and staring in his coat, eats little, and, as the disease advances, retires from the rest of herd. When taken up, his skin along the back will be found adhering to the flesh, and if pressed on the spine he will nearly crouch to the ground. If a hold is taken of the skin—which is very difficult to accomplish—and it is lifted from the flesh, when let go it will give a crack similar to the sound that follows when you give a knock to the common corn-basket. ”

“ Cut a little before the blossoming; it will make more than when in blossom, and the cows prefer it, which is by no means an unimportant consideration, since their tastes should always be consulted. Grass cut somewhat green, and properly cured, is next to fresh, green grass in palatable, nutritive qualities. Every farmer knows the milk-producing properties of rowen, or second crop, which is generally cut before it ripens.
No operation on the farm is of greater importance to the dairyman than the cutting of his grass and the manner of curing hay ”

“ An increased proportion of trashy, light-weight cattle indicated that producers were anxious to liquidate surplus holdings before stormy weather sets in, while a corresponding decrease in receipts of corn-feds suggested a decreased number of well-conditioned beef cattle in feeders’ hands. ”

“ It is only throwing away your means to give high-bred cows with calf, or heifers rising two years old, a full supply of turnips. A few to keep them fresh and healthy, and plenty of straw, is all they should be allowed. Bulls that are apt to accumulate fat should also be stinted, else they will soon be useless as stock-getters. After calving, the cows, to secure a flow of milk, should receive a full allowance of turnips, but the increase must be gradual, as the cow has been stinted, or ought to have been, before calving. ”

“ Under such circumstances, we must make exceptional sacrifices; when they return from feeding on the grass, we should give them some additional fodder, or roots of a generous quality. We must imitate the regimen used in the country of the steppes, by adding to their forage a solution of marine salt, or a solution of sulphate of iron. Day by day we must give to the weakest and least fed cattle, a ration consisting of bruised oats, pounded juniper berries, gentian, sulphate of iron, and carbonate of soda. ”

“ As a regular thing, the cattle graze in the fields and feed themselves until the frost comes, when the farmers begin to feed them. Enough fodder is raised during the season to carry the stock comfortably through until the grass is up again; but as the corn and roots are liable to rot or mould, little more is grown than is necessary. ”

“ Idleness is especially operative in cattle, which are quite subject to biliary calculi and concretions, when shut up in the stall on abundant, dry feeding for a long winter. They are not noticed in stalled animals, that are fed watery or succulent rations, such as green fodder, distiller’s or brewer’s swill, ensilage, brewer’s grains, mashes, roots, potatoes, apples, pumpkins, and in case a tendency to their formation is developed on the dry feeding of winter, the concretions may be re-dissolved and entirely removed by the succulent spring grass. ”

“ Throughout other parts bullocks are fed on pasture land, and also in stables on nourishing and succulent feed such as hay, Indian corn fodder, Indian corn silage, turnips, carrots, mangels, ground oats, barley, peas, Indian corn, rye, bran and linseed oil cake. The breeding of cattle, adapted for the production of prime beef and of dairy cows for the production of milk, butter and cheese, has received much attention. There is government control of the spaces on the steamships in which the cattle are carried, and veterinary inspection prevents the exportation of diseased animals. ”

“ Besides this, there's a larger percentage of increase to them than there is to scrubs. They always command a sale, and at a fair price too, even when cattle are way down in the market, like they are at present; and on a fair range they're always in condition. You can't never get these wild scrub cattle into condition anyhow; they run all the flesh off their bones. Why, some of these here black cattle from Mexico, if they see a cow-boy a mile off, will 'light out and run four miles; they graze at a lope, and water at full gallop. ”