Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1888-04-02


large progeny of Younger animals
are, perhaps, as good representatives !
of the breed as can be found any
where. The peculiar markings,
white faces, bright-red colored bod
les, small mild eyes, clear straight
horns, and square build is seen in
every animal, and they are really
beautiful. They are not dairy ami /
mails, and the cows give milk which
makes calves but not butter.
The Polled Angus are hornless,
of course, and as black as nature |
can paint them; they are gen lie,
sleek, thrifty and take on fat almost
as readily as the Herefords. They |
are nearly uniform in size, age con-
sldered, and are just alike in build. |
Each of these feshy breeds has
been popular of late in the West, |
and fancy stock breeders everywhere
admire them as the best cattle for
beef purp 'ses. The Devons which |
Mr.. Harris purchased year or two
since, were high bred and considered |
among the best in New England, but |
they are not better in appearance
than the Devon stock originally inn
ported into this section from Massa-
chusetts and Connecticut, and kept
here thirty years ago. Mr.. Harris
Devons standing along side the Her
efords and Angus, under the same
or better treatment. do not contrast
favorably Some native and grade
animals standing in the same sta
bles looked decidedly thin.
The sheep are remarkable. They
are compelled to rough it out of
doors, with access only to open
sheds, except for a few days while
the lambs are coming, but they have
immense heeces on them and many
of them look as though they might
soon be the mothers of filters rather
! than twins. They are divided up
into lots and separated somewhat as
to sex and age; the ewes and lambs,
as soon as the little fellows are four
days old are turned right out into
the yards on the snow and they seem
as thrifty and happy as though they
were gamboling on the grass. The
ewes nearly all bear twins and they
are as strong as lambs well can be.
We saw a $500 buck poking about
am ,ng his family, seemingly uncon-
scious of his aristocratic breeding, or
the fact that he has won medals and
honors wherever he has competed in
prize shows. 1t would we'll repay
every lover of Sleeper mutton-to
visit Mr.. Harris farm. The t1eeces
will be taken off within a very few
| weeks.
The Berkshire hog is considered
the best on this farm, but he is com
PEELED to do his share of labor III
roofing over the manure piles, and
as soon as the weather permits he
will have to root for himself in the
hog pasture. Mr.. Harris has a few
high bred horses, including fine
English race horse, two Morgan
mares and some fancy blood of 9th
er kinds. He does not make spec
atty of horse breeding.
The management of the stock is
simple and the treatment as regular
as possible. The cows are tied up
mostly, in a common stanchlon sta
BILE; the bulls and nearly all the
young stock are housed in pens, from
one to four in a pen. In the build
| inc lately constructed the whole low
er story, built without floors, is di-
vided up into pens, boarded high
enough so no animal can see over or
get over. There is good feeding
rack in each, both for fodder and
for roots. One of the daily rations
being roots and straw, sufficient
quantities of straw are thrown in to
make bedding and take up the wet.
The cattle are not tied. They are
fed a good ration of hay in the morn
ing early, and as soon as this is eaten
the whole stock, except a few ami
mails, is turned out into big yard
where they have to face wind, rain
and snow, no matter how hard it may
be. till one or two o'clock, when they
are driven into the stables or pens to
wait a couple of hours for the next
ration which is chiefly straw and roots.
Whatever grain is used must be grown
on the farm, as Mr.. Harris uses little
foreign feed. The brood mares are
also kept in pens. The manure from
the pens is drawn out about twice
during the winter months. The ma
nure in the large yards is hoed or
shoveled up each day where it freez-
es.and is then drawn off to The fields.
The manure teams are running all the
time. and all is carried off in the win
ter to the place where it will be need
ed in the spring. Mr.. Harris has
way of treating the manure which
we had not seen before. AS it is
drawn OUT it is put in piles which are
regularly put up, about 16 feet wide,
four feet high and as long as is de-
sired for the quantity to be used on
that plot of land. The piles begin
to heat in few days and are then
all forked over, the coarser parts
mixed with the finer; in the course
of a few days more, they heat again
and are again shovelled over and
thoroughly mixed up. By this means,