Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-10-29


There will be thousands of COWS, horses,
and sheep kept over the winter by farmers in
every county in the West that will not sell
for enough in the spring to pay for the food
they will consume from now till the grass
starts again. Many of these animals have
"outlived their usefulness, and quite as large
number never had much usefulness to out
live. Some of these animals are kept year
after year as a token of gratitude for the
good they have done. The lives of some are
prOtrActed in the vain hope that their last
days will be better than their first. Some
farmers seem to become attached to animals
that give them great deal of trouble, the
same as some mothers dote on children that
behave in the same manner Some persons
keep unproductive and unpromising animals
over the winter for the sake of the manure
they make. Now it is improbable to keep
any kind of stock for this purpose. Nothing
is added to the value of any vegetable sub
stance by its passing through the organs of
digestion. If fodder and grain are to be used
for manure it is better TO apply them direct
ly to the land. This course saves them the
trouble of feeding, and also saves a very large
amount of material that is consumed in keep
ing up repairs in the animal system Some
keep unproductive animals year after year
because no one wishes to purchase them. If
animals have no value in the market it is
very evident they are Improbable to keep,
and the sooner they are disposed of the bet
ter it will be for the owner.
Many farmers are spoken of as being ''land
poor" There is still larger number who
are stock poor. They keep cows that give
but small amount of milk at any time, and
their season for giving milk is very short
The milk is also very poor in quality. If the
cows have calves they make poor veal. If
they are allowed to live they make no better
mixers than their mothers. 1t does not take
many very inferior COWS to keep a farmer
poor They use up the grass crop, and con-
siderable of the corn and grain crop, employ
the time of the farmer during the winter in
taking care of them, and give no return for
for all they consume and all the labor they
require. Their proper place is the beef bar
rel.
1t does not take n very large number of
slow going, lame and balky horses to keep
farmer poor. If they did nothing worse than
ito eat their own heads Off" during the win
ter, the case would not be as bad as it is But
they do more than this. They eat in the
course of the winter much more than they
will sell for in the spring, and there is no re-
turn for the trouble of keeping them. Breachy
steers help keep farmer poor by the num-
Der of fences they tear down and the amount
of crops they destroy. Sheep that yield
scant 1leeces and produce very inferior NUT
ton tend to keep farmer poor. The ten
denoy of nearly all dogs, whether kept by the
farmer or his neighbors, is in the same direc-
ton.
No farmer should long remain "stock
poor If he has cows that do not give an
amount of milk during the season equal to
twice their weights, they should be disposed
of in some way, and their places supplied by
others. If farmer has not sufficient food to
fstten them he should buy hay and grain
from farmers who have more food than ami
mails, or sell them to the latter to fatten. No
unruly stock should be kept on any farm
longer than is required to get it in a condi-
ton to be slaughtered. AS to horses that
have "outlived their usefulness" or never
had any TO outlive, they should be disposed
of on the best terms possible. If they will
commandnop price at all tits better to give them
to persons who are not desired in the neighbor-
hood, on the condition that they will move
where land is cheap and the neighbors few.
If horse is SO poor specimen that no one
will make a bid for him at auction, and no
one will accept him as a gift 1t is then best
to dispose of him at a shooting match, at
which no one but good marksmen shall be al
lowed to use rifle. His hide will pay for
taking of, his body will be useful for manure,
and he will no longer help keep his former
owner poor.
We copy from the Chicago Times the
above sensible advice in regard to keeping
such worthless animals as are apt to accumu-
late on the hands of farmers least able to
support them, but we protest against the
practice here recommended of disposing OF
horses 'that have outlived their usefulness, u
ION the best terms possible, " to the class that
the writer describes. Instead of selling oil
giving them into such hands to suffer abuse,
let death relieve them from painful exist,
ence. 1t is an ugly part OF the history OF
mans relation to the horse, that when disa,
bled by old age or disease he is so often sold
for paltry sum to some inhuman wretch
who forces him to labor by the lash. We
have always an increased respect for mar
when we learn that he has killed the old horse
rather than sell him.