The National tribune., 1884-12-18
OUR RURAL TOPICS.
Some Practical Suggestions for Our
Agricultural Readers.
THE EDUCATION OF COWS.

- e
THE EDUCATION OF COWS.
A COW is certainly a reasoning creature. It's
instinct in this respectis greatly increased by
maternity. A cow with young calf certainly
reasons, and if we wish to make the most of
her instinct end 'reasoning capacity we must
educate her. There is IN all sorts of animals a
differing hereditary capacity for being edu-
cated-a reasoning docility which aids them
in understanding the desires Of the owner and
| the means he uses for communicating this
knowledge A young calf inherits chiefly the
instinct of fear and self-preservation, and the
first lesson it requires is to overcome this in
stinct, which is natural, by an effort of reason,
which is wholly artificial. This is taught By
| the constant exercise Of kindness and gentle
ness, until the natural fear is wholly expelled
and docile confidence in its owner is created.
This is the first step in the education of cows
After this has been firmly established the COW
learns by experience; and surely the ability to
learn from what has passed, and to exercise
memory, is reason, or closely akin to it.
The first lesson to be given is the handling,
and this is of the first Importance, because a
successful education in this respect avoids all
the vices and disagreeable habits which detract
so much from the value Of a farm animal. The
habit of kicking, which is utterly destructive
of the value of a cow, may in every instance be
traced to errors and sometimes vices in the
early education of tie animal SO too is the bad
habit of withholding the milk, and all others
| which are so often complained of. One of these
may be more particularly mentioned, viz, the
habit of cleanliness. There are COWS which can
| never be kept clean, and which seem to delight
| in fouling their udders and headquarters, and
of plastering their sides with filth by dipping
their tails in the gutter and lashing their TANKS
with them. This all comes from education. A
| well-trained cow has no such unclean habits,
| and once brought up in a clearly manner will
preserve the habit and save great amount of
| labor and worry thereafter
| The feeding is also matter of education.
This fact is rarely thought of or considered,
| and yet it is of the greatest Importance. cow
is machine for the conversion of food into
milk and butter, and as the machine is more
perfect SO the product will be more satisfactory
| in exact proportion. The training in this re-
pect should begin with the newborn calf. 1t
| is well known how an animal that has been
starved in its early life is stunted all through
its future existence, and how well-fed calf
| will make a cow that has large capacity for
| the consumption of food and its change into
valuable products. The quantity of food, how
ever. is not the only element in the calculation.
Food varies greatly in its character, and as it is
mere highly nutritious its products are richer
and more valuable But rich food and feeding
call for peculiar disposition of the digestive
| organs, and one of the greatest difficulties in
the way of the high feeding of dairy cows is
the inability to digest the concentrated foods
which their owners are DESTROYS of using. Many
| cows that have not been trained in this direc-
ton fail and perish from this inability to sus-
tain a regular course of high feeding. 1t is
| therefore necessary to success in this direction
| than young animals should be " forced" as the
| term is, from their earliest infancy, and thus
become able not only to hold, but to use to the
best advantage, a large quantity of rich food,
| with healthful proportion of such bulky food
| as may be required. In this article we do not
propose to enter into details, but simply to
mention a few leading principles from the con-
| sideration of which details of practice may be
resolved And there is no other question ap-
pertaining to this subject which admits of
greater diversity Of practice and requires more
study and practical investigation and expert
ment than this one of feeding. Training to
milking is another branch of a cows education
which should not be overlooked. 1t is one
| thing to make good mixer and quite another
to keep her good. In this respect the mixer
needs more training than the COW, perhaps for
the cow cannot be expected to be better than
the teacher. Milking is nice art and needs to
| be studied in the very best manner by dairy
man. We have read instructions in this respect
which are altogether wrong and misleading
| and even disastrous in their effects. For in
stance, writer once urged that heifers should
| be left unmilkcd for long intervals for the pur-
| pose of stretching the udder and making greater
capacity. 1t is quite safe to believe that one
who so thinks and advises is not mixer, and
is not competent to teach the art to a novice,
for he must evidently be novice himself For
so Had and hh Ayrntu
| gorged the glands must stop secreting; an in
furious congestive condition is induced, and
transcription must occur, to the serious damage
of the COW. There are several other points
which might be referred to, but we prefer at
| this time to merely suggest the consideration Of
the whole subject from the few texts here given.
N. Y. 7imes.
| When . horse is troubled with indigest-
ion, says the New Hampshire Mirror it should
not have large quantity of hay or grain.
| Oatmeal is the best food, being easily digesti-
Bile. Feeding often, with small quantity at
each meal, is better than o large quantity at
once.
Separate the yearlings from the herds and
focks now, and give them extra feed.
| A top dressing of fine stable manure in
| Winter is q great benefit to lawns and grass
plats.
- Including imported and native born, 1t Is
claimed that there are now in this country
about q, 900 registered Jerseys.
| - The first point to be learned in successful
stock-raisng is never to allow an animal to
lose a pound of flesh. This is equivalent to
throwing two pounds away.
- Working oxen should have separate
feeding place, and due and regular supply of
food. There sh 'uld be no opportunity of their
interfering with other cattle or being inter
| fered with.
Whole OATS wheat, bran and cornmeal
forms an excellent ration for young stock.
The health and complete and symmetrical
growth of the body are best secured by feed
/ ing variety of grain.
Corn gives strength to the horse. There
| fore, where his work continues the same, give
little more corn as the weather becomes cold.
But if the work fall off, as in Winter, the feed
| of corn may be decreased.
| The approximate number of sheep in the
world is set down at 415,O00OOO. This does
not include large number of sheep in the
Asiatic and some of the North African coun-
tries, as well as upon certain of the more i'm
| portant islands of which no enumeration has
| been attempted.
Tho recipe for the Government harness