Livery stable

“ This prevents the cattle from interfering with each other, while a partition effectually prevents any contact from the animals on each side of it, in the separate stalls. [155]
There is no greater benefit for cattle, after coming into winter-quarters, than a systematic regularity in every thing pertaining to them. Every animal should have its own particular stall in the stable, where it should always be kept. The cattle should be fed and watered at certain fixed hours of the day, as near as may be. ”

“ In the first place, one should see that provision is made for feeding the flock throughout the entire year, as well indoors as out. The stable should be in a suitable location, protected against the wind, looking rather to the East than the South, on cleared and sloping ground so that it can be easily swept out and kept clean, for moisture not only rots the wool of the sheep but their hoofs as well and causes scab. When sheep have stood for several days you should strew the stable with new bedding, so that they may be more comfortable and be kept cleaner, and thus eat with more appetite. ”

“ They are fed forage in the open when the weather is fine and insects are not troublesome, and they sometimes sleep in the open on hot nights; but by far the largest part of their time is spent in their own stalls away from chilling winds and biting flies. In their stables they are treated much as fine horses are,—well bedded, well groomed, and well cared for in all ways.
A quiet, darkened stable conduces rumination. Loud talking, shouting, or laughing are not looked upon with favor in our cow barn. ”

“ All tame cattle would naturally water in the daytime, and anything coming in at night fell a victim to our ropes. A wooden toggle was fastened with rawhide to its neck, so it would trail between its forelegs, to prevent running, when the wild maverick was freed and allowed to enter the herd. After a week or ten days, if an animal showed any disposition to quiet down, it was again thrown, branded, and the toggle removed. We corralled the little herd every night, adding to it daily, scouting far and wide for unowned or wild cattle. ”

“ When we compare highly improved stall-fed cattle with the wilder breeds, or compare mountain and lowland breeds, we cannot doubt that an active life, leading to the free use of the limbs and lungs, affects the shape and proportions of the whole body. It is probable that some breeds, such as the semi-monstrous niata cattle, and some peculiarities, such as being hornless, &c., have appeared suddenly from what we may call a spontaneous variation ”

“ We now know that the differences may be in part attributed to descent from distinct species; but this will not suffice. Have the slight differences in climate and in the nature of the pasture, in the different districts of Britain, directly induced corresponding differences in the cattle? We have seen that the semi-wild cattle in the several British parks are not identical in colouring or size, and that some degree of selection has been requisite to keep them true. It is almost certain that abundant food given during many generations directly affects the size of a breed. ”

“ Most of our readers may recollect to have seen, in the summer months, a whole herd of cattle start off across a field in full gallop, as if they were racing,—their movements indescribably awkward—their tails being poked out behind them as straight and stiff as a post, and their necks stretched to their utmost length. All this consternation has been known, from the earliest times, to be produced by the fly we are describing. ”

“ In such an emergency the beasts should be laid past upon a little hay or straw for a day in the neighbourhood; there is always a field to be had, or the market green. What is a day, or a man or two, and a night's hay, if your beasts come safe? Disease has been carried in this way to hundreds of steadings, and the results have been most disastrous. The day's rest will be a great advantage to the cattle after the fatigue of standing in the market. The main object with store cattle should be to keep them sound on their feet and free from disease. ”

“ We have also reason to believe that selection, carried on so far unconsciously that there was at no one time any distinct intention to improve or change the breed, has in the course of time modified most of our cattle; for by this process, aided by more abundant food, all the lowland British breeds have increased greatly in size and in early maturity since the reign of Henry VII. [215] It should never be forgotten that many animals have to be annually slaughtered; so that each owner must determine which shall be killed and which preserved for breeding. ”

“ The days of free ranging, [Pg 150] where the cattle are turned out on the prairie to look after themselves, winter and summer, are almost over, and year by year the area of the free range is becoming more and more contracted. The advantages of great size and a valuable robe would still be an attraction to the farmer; but the hardiness which enables the half-breed animal to endure almost any winter weather will soon cease to be required, because the cattle of almost all the western country will be kept under fence, and fed on hay during the winter. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Having done my best to explain how I think the foundation of a breeding stock should be laid, I shall now give my opinion and experience how the herd should be treated, and how it should be kept up. The cows, heifers, and bulls should be kept fresh, not fat, nor too lean. The calves should have a different treatment. All breeding cattle tied to the stall should be let out every day for two or three hours, or at least every second day, unless the weather be very wet or stormy. The finer the quality of the stock the less rich will be the food they require. ”

“ With entire adaptedness to the soil, climate, and wants of the farmer, an originally good stock has, in frequent instances, been carefully fostered, and the breeding animals selected with a strict reference to their fitness for perpetuating the most desirable qualities. As a consequence of this intelligent and persevering policy, widely, but not universally pursued, they have a race of cattle, though possessing considerable diversity of size and color, yet coinciding in a remarkable degree in the possession of those utilitarian features, which so justly commend them to our admiration. ”

“ What we can rely on by having one-fourth, one-half, and three-fourths breeds might be analyzed as follows:
“We can depend upon a race of cattle unequaled in the world for hardiness and durability; a good meat-bearing animal; the best and only fur-bearing animal of the bovine race; the animal always found in a storm where it is overtaken by it; a race of cattle so clannish as never to separate and go astray; the animal that can always have free range, as they exist where no other animal can live; the animal that can water every third day and keep fat, ranging from 20 to 30 miles from water ”

“ Hardy cattle moved singly or in small groups and browsed on the withered bunch grass. Summer scorched them, winter humped their backs with cold and arched up their bellies with famine, but they were a breed schooled through generations for this fight against nature. ”

“ The success which has been attained in our ordinary large herbivora, and which has made them competent to evade the chase of the beasts of prey, has been accomplished by reducing the number of the toes, giving the strength of the aborted parts to increase the power of those remaining. The result is the formation of two great groups, the double-hoofed forms, including the pigs, deer, cattle, sheep, and their kindred, and the single-toed species, of which our horse is the foremost example. ”

“ Such novelties of type abound in the vegetable world, are seen more rarely in the animal circle, and perhaps are least frequent of occurrence in our own race. There is a noted instance in the production, on a New England farm, of a variety of sheep with unusually short legs, which was kept up by breeding, on account of the convenience in that country of having sheep which are unable to jump over low fences. The starting and main taming a breed of cattle, that is, a variety marked by some desirable peculiarity, are familiar to a large class of persons. ”

“ The hay may be stacked in the fields when gathered, or put into small barns built for hay storage alone; and the manure, scattered over the fields by the cattle, as they are fed from either of them, may be knocked to pieces with the dung-beetle, in the spring, or harrowed and bushed over the ground; and with the very small quantity of labor required in all this, such practice will be more economical than any other which can be adopted. ”

“ At the round ups it was our duty to cut out and brand the young calves, take a census of our stock, and then after the round up was over we would start out to look for possible strays. Over the range we would ride through canyons and gorges, and every place where it was possible for cattle to stray, as it was important to get them with the main herd before winter set in, as if left out in small bunches there was danger of them perishing in the frequent hard storms of the winter. ”

“ By this means, very few or no division-fences are required: instead of 1 1/3 of an acre, one-fourth part will suffice for the subsistence of a beast during the six warmer months; the whole of their manure is well preserved, and given to the soil, where it is most wanted, and in the best condition; the land is not trodden in, and the cattle always ready for immediate rise. They are also kept more cool, are less tormented by flies than if pastured, acquire good coats, and full flesh; though they consume a much smaller quantity of food. ”

“ Correct Groom’s Livery
For country wear, particularly in summer, this full-dress livery is too hot and looks out of place, so that an undress livery should be worn. The best style of undress livery is a morning or cutaway coat with three buttons in front and two in the back, cut like any morning coat, but a little higher in the neck, and breeches and leggings of the same material, or perhaps leather puttee leggings. This livery is made of covert cloth or whip-cord, and the color may be any shade of gray or any shade of tan. ”

“ Unfavourable conditions of life overrule the power of selection. Our improved heavy breeds of cattle and sheep could not have been formed on mountainous pastures; nor could dray-horses have been raised on a barren and inhospitable land, such as the Falkland islands, where even the light horses of La Plata rapidly decrease in size. Nor could the wool of sheep have been much increased in length within the Tropics; yet selection has kept Merino sheep nearly true under diversified and unfavourable conditions of life. ”

“ Prevention. The first consideration is to keep work horses indoors or in a kraal during the summer or sickly season. Here they must be fed on dry hay and grain only, grass being strictly withheld. If it becomes absolutely necessary to feed green fodder of any kind it should not be cut until all dew or rain has completely dried off in the heat of the sun, and if kept over night should be kept under cover and again dried before feeding. When taken out to work the animal should wear a check rein or muzzle so that he cannot by any chance reach the green vegetation. ”

“ In the horse, this can only be received in labor or breeding; in the ox, from labor and flesh; in the cow, from the milk, the flesh, and her young. In the sheep, it may be returned in its fleece, its carcass, or its progeny; and in the swine only by its progeny and flesh. The manure we expect from all; and if this be not secured and judiciously used, few animals about the farm will be found to yield a satisfactory profit for their food and attention ”

“ On being let out for the first time, cattle should be put for awhile into a larger court, or on a road well fenced with enclosures, and guarded by men, to romp about. Two or three such allowances of liberty will render them quiet; and, in the mean time, to lighten their weight of carcass, they should have hay for a large proportion of their food. These precautions are absolutely necessary for cattle which have been confined in barns; otherwise, accidents may befall them on the road, where they will at once break loose. ”

“ The perfection of form and health, and the uniform good condition, which characterize the thrifty one, indicate too plainly to be misunderstood, those which will best repay the care of their owner. The selection of any indifferent animal for stall-fattening, whether cattle or sheep, will inevitably be attended with loss. Such ought to be got rid of when first brought from the pasture, for the most they will bring. ”

“ Farmyard ungulates, however, had all proved more susceptible to human manipulation, whether through the gradual enhancement of inherent tendencies, such as the relatively early maturation that distinguished shorthorn cattle, or through the preservation of spontaneously arising monstrosities, such as the short, broad foreheads and protruding lower jaws of the niata cattle of South America, the bulldogs of the bovine world. ”

“ Breeding cows should be pastured where there is abundant grass and plenty of water, and care should be taken to protect them from crowding too close together, and from being struck, or from fighting with one another: moreover, to protect them against being worried in summer by cattle flies and those minute insects which get under their tails, some farmers shut them up during the heat of the day in pens, which should be strewn with leaves or some other bedding on which they can rest comfortably. ”