Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1883-10-19
Cows Chewing Bones.

Why do cows chew bones Why do not
all COWS chew them: Probably there are far.
mers who honestly believe that because their
own cows will chew bones if they can find
them, all COWS will do SO, but this is a mis-
take, and little wider observation would
show it as such. Sucking calves rarely chew
anything until they are old enough to begin to
eat hay or other solid food. A weaned calf
is apt to chew almost anything it can get
hold of. Chewing bones, tapping barn boards,
eating old leather, whips, boots, wooden cloth
ing, and the manure from grain fed horses,
are all indications that the COWS want some
thing that they do not find in their regular
food, or else that they have lost their appe-
tite, and have constant craving, or an abnor-
nal condition Of the digestive organs. A
perfectly healthy COW will be fully satisfied
with healthful food, such as grass or hay
just as young healthy calf will be perfect
ly satisfied with its mothers milk taken in
natures way.
Forty years ago, the cows kept on Pine
Hedge farm would all gnsw bones when they
could get them, just as do other COWS on
some Of the adjoining farms at the present
time The best COWS, those giving the most
milk, were the most persistent bone chewers,
while the oxen and young stock, and the far
row COWS, or those giving little milk, rarely
noticed bone when they had chance. We
never heard of an OK acquiring the habit of
chewing bones, and much doubt if one ever
did.
Did anybody ever think how much bone
material there is contained in the annual
product of good dairy cow How many
calf frames would that milk build up: And
who of us has reckoned up how many pounds
of bone material have been taken from our
COW pastures that have been fed close every
ETw b,,,,A ra1x hv
is it that almost all farmers are agreed that
bone phosphate is better suited to the needs
of their land than any other form of COM
merciAl manure Why is it that crops re-
spond to bone phosphate more readily than
to almost any other kind of fertilizer Sim
ply because, under our system of selling ami
mails and milk, we have been depicting our
soils of the bone elements. The COWS that
chew bones most are generally those which
/ have been kept in pastures that have not been
ploughed or MANFRED for a long term of
| years, and in which the animals are compelled
/ to get their entire living for several months
/ during the summer season.
Farmers who have new pastures, those
| which produce red or white clover bountiful-
| ly, or who feed daily, liberal rations of grain
/ to their COWS, are rarely troubled by having
them acquire this disagreeable habit. Wheat
bran, on account of its large content of bone
material, makes an excellent food for cows in
this condition, and if generously and contin-
uously fed in liberal quantities, will, We be-
Heve, cure any COW of the habit, if she is not
otherwise diseased. We could point to two
pastures lying on opposite banks of a small
stream, on one of which the feed is always
/ good, while on the other it is as constantly
poor. The difference on the feed is caused
solely by the difference in the character OF
the soil. One is a thin, sandy gravel, which
produces only the poorest kind of vegetation,
while the other is a deep, fine loan, where
| white clover and June grass both thrive in
| perfection. In one of these pastures cows
may run all summer long and never notice g
I bone in their path while in the other a bone
would be the first thing picked up. We have
seen COWS stand and chew bone for hours al
a time-certainly most unsatisfactory occu
patton of their time.
After we commenced feeding bran and 9th
err grain freely to our COWS in summer, whil'
at pasture, their habit of chewing bones wa
entirely cured But one summer when braI
was dearer in the market than corn meal, tn,
bran was withheld for a few weeks and corr
meal given in its stead. Now, corn meal is
rich food, but 1t does not contain nearly 81
large a proportion of bone material as gooC
wheat bran. After feeding it few weeks
the best COW in the herd was one day OBJ
served chewing bone, and after a while al
the cows in the herd began TO chew bone
when they could find them, the poorest COW
getting the taste for them at last. We sooi
found that wheat bran, even at the highe
price, was the cheaper food for our COWS, AM
commenced feeding it again, when the troub
le ceased. Since that time, wheat bran ha
been fed daily to every animal in milk, ant
not one has ever been known to chew bones
We should have had no hesitation at an
time during the past ten years, in offering +
give away any COW in our herd that we ooul
find chewing a bone, or that could be in
duced to chew one that might be placed be
fore her
Bone meal is often recommended for oul
ing cows of bone sickness, and We shout
have no objection whatever TO feeding it,
they would eat it, as they sometimes will, bu
we should prefer giving them their bone ms
terial in a more natural form in their food
Raw bone cannot be as readily digssted
the stomach of COW as good clover hay, an