The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1899-03-25

pertaining to stock raising and agriculture
came up for discussion. A feature of the
meeting was an essay by Mr.. Rawlings upon
the Care and Feeding of Cattle" Tie
meeting was presided over by President J. p
Wilson the members present beside the host
being: A. J. Michiner. l.. Thompson, Il. T.
Cameron, James II. Maxwell and NJ. c.
Reeder. Those attending AS gu' sts of the
club We're: Carlton Kmblo and G. Abra-
hams.
CARE AND FEEDING OF CATTLE.
The essay read by Mr.. Rawlings was as
follows:
First-Good warm stable, well ventilated.
Second Good corn and hay or fodder
Third-Good water
Fourth Cleanliness.
Fifh-Kind treatment.
SiXth-Prompt to the minute o both feed
and water.
And feeding cattle is not task thai every
one can do, for it is not merely to give them
all the meal and hay that they will eat. but
to see il they are in the proper condition to
receive it 1t is more injurious to give II
fattiDr bullock too much, than to give him
too little There should be great care taken
t. sec that he eats it with a relish, and the
next thing is to watch him close and see if it
is improving him not to think you are doing
YOUR part 10y giving him his feed and allow
ing him to do the rest. If you do you will
often find your corn all gone and your cattle
not doing we'll
The first thing look for is the feeder. as a
rule you can tell the careless or Il lazy man,
but the eXcitable or passionate feeder gener-
ally has every thing in order except his stock
and as soon as he comes in their presence you
will see every eye in the herd on him and he
will soon commence to tell you and point out
the one that has not got a bit Of sense, and of
them jumping through some hole and tell
you to watch him, but n good feeder you
will not have any Of that kind of talk, but
can 20 around and handle every one of them
OF course some are much more nervous than
Others and ii takes patience, but as soon as
you can hhudle him he will commence to
improve. There is no better care bullock
can have than ii rub or II pat on the back
pntt IL uHy. lrS IL us Il llllls tAlTa once
day. and see if it will not be time well spent
you can not be 10 quiet with the bullock or
the COW. / have known cattle to be so fright
ened that it took months for them to get
over it. and if you are out of humur when
you 90 to milk or to feed your cattle, you
had better send some one else for If you have
one that is little nervous he most likely will
not eat or If he does he will wait until you
have left the barn, then If you 60 to mans
barn and he commences to complain that his
cows are not doing so well as his neighbors
and his feeders are no better than they were
when he commenced to feed, and, of course
be blamcs the cattle and the one he bought
them oi, but in nine times out of teu, neither
is to blame because if you would give the
privilege to animals own instruct that God
has given them you would find them thriftier
animals and would be credit and a profit to
their owner.
Cattle are often overfed when first put in
the stall. You should get his dgesting
organs in shape to receive the meal, for green
meal is very hard on the digesting organs
1t ought to be fed in small quantities and
with either oats or bran. l find it best not
to give him all he will eat for about month
or six weeks after he is put in the stall. You
will find he will eat more the rest of the
winter and you can see the effect of every feed
and you will not have him off of his feed so
often and you will have better results from
your feeding.
! 1t would pay every feeder to take the chill
off of the water before giving it to his cattle
or any of his stock on the farm. After they
drink they will draw all four feet together
and hump up their back, stand and shiver,
and it takes all the feed that day to warm
his drink. Now it would be much cheaper
for you to take the chill off of the water
before it is drank, and as most every farmer
now has water in his house he could have a
boiler set in the corner of his kitchen, which
would be of great advantage to his family,
and pipe to run to his water trough which
l think would pay for itself in one winter like
| this, as the profit of the farm has got so
small we have to use every means of economy
and make every thing on the farm return
some profit, for we cannot do as our fathers
did when wheat was two dollars n bushel
! and hay twenty dollars a ton, but we have
to think now and have some system on our
farms"
COMMENTS ON ESSAY.