Fig. 230.Fig. 230. Alfalfa ready for the Third Cutting
As explained on page32the leguminous crops have the power of drawing nitrogen from the air and, by means of their root-tubercles, of storing it in the soil. Hence by growing these crops on poor land the expensive nitrogen is quickly restored to the soil, and only the two cheaper plant foods need be bought. How important it is then to grow these leguminous plants! Every farmer should so rotate his planting that at least once every two or three years a crop of legumes may add to the fruitfulness of his fields.
Moreover these crops help land in another way. They send a multitude of roots deep into the ground. These roots loosen and pulverize the soil, and their decay, at the end of the growing season, leaves much humus in the soil. Land will rarely become worn out if legumes are regularly and wisely grown.
From the fact that they do well in so many different sections and in so many different climates, the following are the most useful legumes: alfalfa, clovers, cowpeas, vetches, and soy beans.
Alfalfa.Alfalfa is primarily a hay crop. It thrives in the Far West, in the Middle West, in the North, and in the South. In fact, it will do well wherever the soil is rich, moist, deep, and underlaid by an open subsoil. The vast areas givento this valuable crop are yearly increasing in every section of the United States. Alfalfa, however, unlike the cowpea, does not take to poor land. For its cultivation, therefore, good fertile land that is moist but not water-soaked should be selected.
Fig. 231.Fig. 231. Sheep fattening on Alfalfa Stubble
Good farmers are partial to alfalfa for three reasons. First, it yields a heavy crop of forage or hay. Second, being a legume, it improves the soil. Third, one seeding lasts a long time. This length of life may, however, be destroyed by pasturing or abusing the alfalfa.
Alfalfa is different from most plants in this respect: the soil in which it grows must have certain kinds of bacteria in it. These cause the growth of tubercles on the roots. These bacteria, however, are not always present in land that has not been planted in alfalfa. Hence if this plant is to be grown successfully these helpful bacteria must sometimes be supplied artificially.
There are two very easy ways of supplying the germs. First, fine soil from an alfalfa field may be scattered broadcast over the fields to be seeded. Second, a small mass of alfalfa tubercle germs may be put into a liquid containing proper food to make these germs multiply and grow; thenthe seeds to be planted are soaked in this liquid in order that the germs may fasten on the seeds.
Before the seeds are sowed the soil should be mellowed. Over this well-prepared land about twenty pounds of seed to the acre should be scattered. The seed may be scattered by hand or by a seed-sower. Cover with a light harrow. The time of planting varies somewhat with the climate. Except where the winters are too severe the seed may be sowed either in the spring or in the fall. In the South sow only in the fall.
Fig. 232.Fig. 232. Herd of Dairy Cattle grazing on Alfalfa Stubble
During the first season one mowing, perhaps more, is necessary to insure a good stand and also to keep down the weeds. When the first blossoms appear in the early summer, it is time to start the mower. After this the alfalfa should be cut every two, three, or four weeks. The number of times depends on the rapidity of growth.
This crop rarely makes a good yield the first year, but if a good stand be secured, the yield steadily increases. After a good stand has been secured, a top-dressing of either commercial fertilizer or stable manure will be very helpful. An occasional cutting-up of the sod with a disk harrow does much good.
Clovers.The different kinds of clovers will sometimes grow on hard or poor soil, but they do far better if the soil is enriched and properly prepared before the seed is sowed. In many parts of our country it has been the practice for generations to sow clover seed with some of the grain crops. Barley, wheat, oats, and rye are the crops with which clover is usually planted, but many good farmers now prefer to sow the seed only with other grass seed. Circumstances must largely determine the manner of seeding.
Crimson clover, which is a winter legume, usually does best when seeded alone, although rye or some other grain often seems helpful to it. This kind of clover is an excellent crop with which to follow cotton or corn. It is most conveniently sowed at the last cultivation of these crops.
Common red clover, which is the standard clover over most of the country, is usually seeded with timothy or with orchard grass or with some other of the grasses. In sowing both crimson and red clover, about ten to fifteen pounds of seed for each acre are generally used.
To make good pastures, white and Japan clover are favorites. White clover does well in most parts of America, and Japan clover is especially valuable in warm Southern climates. Both will do well even when the soil is partly shaded, but they do best in land fully open to the sun.
Careful attention is required to cure clover hay well. The clover should always be cut before it forms seed. The best time to cut is when the plants are in full bloom.
Fig. 233.Fig. 233. Crimson Clover
Let the mower be started in the morning. Then a few hours later run over the field with the tedder. This will loosen the hay and let in air and sunshine. If the weather be fair let the hay lie until the next day, and then rake it into rows for further drying. After being raked, the hay may either be leftin the rows for final curing or it may be put in cocks. If the weather be unsettled, it is best to cock the hay. Many farmers have cloth covers to protect the cocks and these often aid greatly in saving the hay crop in a rainy season. In case the hay is put in cocks, it should be opened for a final drying before it is housed.
Cowpeas.The cowpea is an excellent soil-enricher. It supplies more fertilizing material to turn into the soil, in a short time and at small cost, than any other crop. Moreover, by good tillage and by the use of a very small amount of fertilizer, the cowpea can be grown on land too poor to produce any other crop. Its roots go deep into the soil. Hence they gather plant food and moisture that shallow-rooted plants fail to reach. These qualities make it an invaluable help in bringing worn-out lands back to fertility.
The cowpea is a warm-weather legume. In the United States it succeeds best in the south and southwest. It has, however, in recent years been grown as far north as Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Michigan, and Minnesota, but in these cold climates other legumes are more useful. Cowpeas should never be planted until all danger of frost is past. Some varieties make their full growth in two months; others need four months.
There are about two hundred varieties of cowpeas. These varieties differ in form, in the size of seed and of pod, in the color of seed and of pod, and in the time of ripening. They differ, too, in the manner of growth. Some grow erect; others sprawl on the ground. In selecting varieties it is well to choose those that grow straight up, those that are hardy, those that fruit early and abundantly, and those that hold their leaves. The variety selected for seed should also suit the land and the climate.
The cowpea will grow in almost any soil. It thrives best and yields most bountifully on well-drained sandy loams. The plant also does well on clay soils. On light, sandy soils a fairly good crop may be made, but on such soils, wilt and root-knot are dangerous foes. A warm, moist, well-pulverized seed-bed should always be provided. Few plants equal the cowpea in repaying careful preparation.
Fig. 234.Fig. 234. Cowpeas
If this crop is grown for hay, the method of seeding and cultivating will differ somewhat from the method used when a seed crop is desired. When cowpeas are planted for hay the seeds should be drilled or broadcasted. If the seeds are small and the land somewhat rich, about four pecks should be sowed on each acre. If the seeds are comparatively large and the soil not so fertile, about six pecks should be sowed to the acre. It is safer to disk in the seeds when they are sowed broadcast than it is to rely on a harrow to cover them. Insowing merely for a hay crop, it is a good practice to mix sorghum, corn, soy beans, or millet with the cowpeas. The mixed hay is more easily harvested and more easily cured than unmixed cowpea hay. Shortly after seeding, it pays to run over the land lightly with a harrow or a weeder in order to break any crust that may form.
Mowing should begin as soon as the stalks and the pods have finished growing and some of the lower leaves have begun to turn yellow. An ordinary mower is perhaps the best machine for cutting the vines. If possible, select only a bright day for mowing and do not start the machine until the dew on the vines is dried. Allow the vines to remain as they fell from the mower till they are wilted; then rake them into windrows. The vines should generally stay in the windrows for two or three days and be turned on the last day. They should then be put in small, airy piles or piled around a stake that has crosspieces nailed to it. The drying vines should never be packed; air must circulate freely if good hay is to be made. As piling the vines around stakes is somewhat laborious, some growers watch the curing carefully and succeed in getting the vines dry enough to haul directly from the windrows to the barns. Never allow the vines to stay exposed to too much sunshine when they are first cut. If the sun strikes them too strongly, the leaves will become brittle and shatter when they are moved.
When cowpeas are grown for their pods to ripen, the seeds should be planted in rows about a yard apart. From two to three pecks of seeds to an acre should be sufficient. The growing plants should be cultivated two or three times with a good cultivator. Cowpeas were formerly gathered by hand, but such a method is of course slow and expensive. Pickers are now commonly used.
Some farmers use the cowpea crop only as a soil-enricher. Hence they neither gather the seeds nor cut the hay, but plow the whole crop into the soil. There is an average of about forty-seven pounds of nitrogen in each ton of cowpea vines. Most of this valuable nitrogen is drawn by the plants from the air. This amount of nitrogen is equal to that contained in 9500 pounds of stable manure. In addition each ton of cowpea vines contains ten pounds of phosphoric acid and twenty-nine pounds of potash.
There is danger in plowing into the soil at one time any bountiful green crop like cowpeas. As already explained on page 10,[**ref] a process called capillarity enables moisture to rise in the soil as plants need it. Now if a heavy cowpea crop or any other similar crop be at one plowing turned into the soil, the soil particles will be so separated as to destroy capillarity. Too much vegetation turned under at once may also, if the weather be warm, cause fermentation to set in and "sour the land." Both of these troubles may be avoided by cutting up the vines with a disk harrow or other implement before covering them.
The custom of planting cowpeas between the rows at the last working of corn is a good one, and wherever the climate permits this custom should be followed.
Vetches.The vetches have been rapidly growing in favor for some years. Stock eat vetch hay greedily, and this hay increases the flow of milk in dairy animals and helps to keep animals fat and sleek. Only two species of vetch are widely grown. These are the tare, or spring vetch, and the winter, or hairy, vetch. Spring vetch is grown in comparatively few sections of our country. It is, however, grown widely in England and northern continental Europe. What we say here will be confined to hairy vetch.
After a soil has been supplied with the germs needed by this plant, the hairy vetch is productive on many different kinds of soil. The plant is most vigorous on fertile loams. By good tillage and proper fertilization it may be forced to grow rather bountifully on poor sandy and clay loams. Acid or wet soils are not suited to vetch. Lands that are too poor to produce clovers will frequently yield fair crops of vetch. If this is borne in mind, many poor soils may be wonderfully improved by growing on them this valuable legume.
Fig. 235.Fig. 235. Vetch
Vetch needs a fine well-compacted seed-bed, but it is often sowed with good results on stubble lands and between cotton and corn rows, where it is covered by a cultivator or a weeder.
The seeds of the vetch are costly and are brought chiefly from Germany, where this crop is much prized. The pods ripen so irregularly that they have to be picked by hand.
In northern climates early spring sowing is found most satisfactory. In southern climates the seeding is best done in the late summer or early fall. As the vetch vines have a tendency to trail on the ground, it is wisest to plant with the vetch some crop like oats, barley, rye, or wheat. These plants will support the vetch and keep its vines from being injured by falling on the ground. Do not use rye with vetch in the South. It ripens too early to be of much assistance. If sowed with oats the seeding should be at the rate of about twenty or thirty pounds of vetch and about one and a half or two bushels of oats to the acre. Vetch is covered in the same way as wheat and rye.
Few crops enrich soil more rapidly than vetch if the whole plant is turned in. It of course adds nitrogen to the soil and at the same time supplies the soil with a large amount of organic matter to decay and change to humus. As the crop grows during the winter, it makes an excellent cover to prevent washing. Many orchard-growers of the Northwest find vetch the best winter crop for the orchards as well as for the fields.
Soy, or Soja, Bean.In China and Japan the soy bean is grown largely as food for man. In the United States it is used as a forage plant and as a soil-improver. It bids fair to become one of the most popular of the legumes. Like the cowpea, this bean is at home only in a warm climate. Some of the early-ripening varieties have, however, been planted with fair success in cold climates.
While there are a large number of varieties of the soy bean, only about a dozen are commonly grown. They differ mainly in the color, size, and shape of the seeds, and in the time needed for ripening. Some of the varieties are more hairy than others.
Soy beans may take many places in good crop-rotations, but they are unusually valuable in short rotations with small grains. The grains can be cut in time for the beans to follow them, and in turn the beans can be harvested in the early fall and make way for another grain crop.
It should always be remembered that soy beans will not thrive unless the land on which they are to grow is already supplied, or is supplied at the time of sowing, with bean bacteria.
Fig. 236.Fig. 236. Chinese Soy Beans
The plant will grow on many different kinds of soil, but it needs a richer soil than the cowpea does. As the crop can gather most of its own nitrogen, it generally requires only the addition of phosphoric acid and potash for its growth on poor land. When the first crop is seeded, apply to each acre four hundred pounds of a fertilizing mixture which contains about ten per cent of phosphoric acid, four per cent of potash, and from one to two per cent of nitrogen.
If the crop is planted for hay or for grazing, mellow the ground well, and then broadcast or drill in closely about one and a half bushels of seed to each acre. Cover from one to two inches deep, but never allow a crust to form over the seed, for the plant cannot break through a crust well. When the beans are planted for seeds, a half bushel of seed to the acre is usually sufficient. The plants should stand in the rows from four to six inches apart, and the rows should be from thirty to forty inches from one another. Never plant until the sun has thoroughly warmed the land. The bean may be sowed, however, earlier than cowpeas. A most convenient time is just after corn is planted. The rows should be cultivated often enough to keep out weeds and grass and to keep a good dust mulch, but the cultivation must be shallow.
Fig. 237.Fig. 237. Soy Beans
As soy beans are grown for hay and also for seed, the harvesting will, as with the other legumes, be controlled by thepurpose for which the crop was planted. In harvesting for a hay crop it is desirable to cut the beans after the pods are well formed but before they are fully grown. If the cutting is delayed until the pods are ripe, the fruit will shatter badly. There is a loss, too, in the food value of the stems if the cutting is late. The ordinary mowing-machine with a rake attached is generally the machine used for cutting the stalks. The leaves should be most carefully preserved, for they contain much nourishment for stock.
Fig. 238.Fig. 238. Soy Beans in Corn
Whenever the beans are grown for seeds, harvesting should begin when three fourths of the leaves have fallen and most of the pods are ripe. Do not wait, however, until the pods are so dry that they have begun to split and drop their seeds. A slight amount of dampness on the plants aids the cutting. The threshing may be done with a flail, with pea-hullers, or with a grain-threshing machine.
The beans produce more seed to the acre than cowpeas do. Forty bushels is a high yield. The average yield is between twenty and thirty bushels.
CropAdaptation asFood for AnimalsLifeRemarksAlfalfaHayPerennialAll animals like it; hogs eat it even when it is dry.Red cloverHay and pasturePerennialBest of the clovers for hay.Alsike cloverHay and pasturePerennialSeeds itself for twenty years. This clover is a great favorite with bees.Mammoth cloverHay and pasturePerennialBest for green manure.White cloverPasturePerennialExcellent for lawns and bees.Japan cloverPasturePerennialExcellent for forest and old soils.CowpeaHay and grainAnnualUsed for hay, green manure, and pastures.Soy beanHay and grainAnnualOften put in silo with corn.VetchesHay and soilingAnnualPasture for sheep and swine. With cereals it makes excellent hay and soiling-food.
The progress that a nation is making can with reasonable accuracy be measured by the kind of live stock it raises. The general rule is, poor stock, poor people. All the prosperous nations of the globe, especially the grain-growing nations, get a large share of their wealth from raising improved stock. The stock bred by these nations is now, however, very different from the stock raised by the same nations years ago. As soon as man began to progress in the art of agriculture he became dissatisfied with inferior stock. He therefore bent his energies to raise the standard of excellence in domestic animals.
By slow stages of animal improvement the ugly, thin-flanked wild boar of early times has been transformed into the sleek Berkshire or the well-rounded Poland-China. In the same manner the wild sheep of the Old World have been developed into wool and mutton breeds of the finest excellence. By constant care, attention, and selection the thin, long-legged wild ox has been bred into the bounteous milk-producing Jerseys and Holsteins or into the Shorthorn mountains of flesh. From the small, bony, coarse, and shaggy horse of ancient times have descended the heavy Norman, or Percheron, draft horse and the fleet Arab courser.
The matter of meat-production is one of vital importance to the human race, for animal food must always supply a large part of man's ration.
Live stock of various kinds consume the coarser foods, like the grasses, hays, and grains, which man cannot use. As a result of this consumption they store in their bodies the exact substances required for building up the tissues of man's body.
When the animal is used by man for food, one class of foods stored away in the animal's body produces muscle; another produces fat, heat, and energy. The food furnished by the slaughter of animals seems necessary to the full development of man. It is true that the flesh of an animal will not support human life so long as would the grain that the animal ate while growing, but it is also true that animal food does not require so much of man's force to digest it. Hence the use of meat forces a part of man's life-struggle on the lower animal.
When men feed grain to stock, the animals receive in return power and food in their most available forms. Men strengthen the animal that they themselves may be strengthened. One of the great questions, then, for the stock-grower's consideration is how to make the least amount of food fed to animals produce the most power and flesh.
While we have a great many kinds of horses in America, horses are not natives of this country. Just where wild horses were first tamed and used is not certainly known. It is believed that in early ages the horse was a much smaller animal than it now is, and that it gradually attained its present size. Where food was abundant and nutritious and the climate mild and healthful, the early horses developed large frames and heavy limbs and muscles; on the other hand, where foodwas scarce and the climate cold and bleak, the animals remained as dwarfed as the ponies of the Shetland Islands.
Fig. 239.Fig. 239. The Family Pet
One of the first records concerning the horse is found in Genesis xlix, 17, where Jacob speaks of "an adder that biteth the horse heels." Pharaoh took "six hundred chosen chariots" and "with all the horses and chariots" pursued the Israelites. The Greeks at first drove the horse fastened to a rude chariot; later they rode on its back, learning to manage the animal with voice or switch and without either saddle or bridle. This thinking people soon invented the snaffle bit, and both rode and drove with its aid. The curb bit was a Roman invention. Shoeing was not practiced by either Greeks or Romans. Saddles and harnesses were at first made of skins and sometimes of cloth.
Among the Tartars of middle and northern Asia and also among some other nations, mare's milk and the flesh of the horse are used for food. Old and otherwise worthless horses are regularly fattened for the meat markets of France and Germany. Various uses are made of the different parts of a horse's body. The mane and tail are used in the manufacture of mattresses, and also furnish a haircloth for upholstering; the skin is tanned into leather; the hoofs are used for glue, and the bones for making fertilizer.
Fig. 240.Fig. 240. Percheron Horse (a Draft Type)
Climate, food, and natural surroundings have all aided in producing changes in the horse's form, size, and appearance. The varying circumstances under which horses have been raised have given rise to the different breeds. In addition, themasters' needs had much to do in developing the type of horses wanted. Some masters desired work horses, and kept the heavy, muscular, stout-limbed animals; others desired riding and driving horses, so they saved for their use the light-limbed, angular horses that had endurance and mettle. The following table gives some of the different breeds and the places of their development:
Fig. 241.Fig. 241
Diagram shows the proper shape of the fore and hind legs of a horse. When the straight lines divide the legs equally, the leg action is straight and regular
I.Draft, or Heavy, Breeds1. Percheron, from the province of Perche, France.2. French Draft, developed in France.3. Belgian Draft, developed by Belgian farmers.4. Clydesdale, the draft horse of Scotland.5. Suffolk Punch, from the eastern part of England.6. English Shire, also from the eastern part of England.II.Carriage, or Coach, Breeds1. Cleveland Bay, developed in England.2. French Coach, the gentleman's horse of France.3. German Coach, from Germany.4. Oldenburg Coach, Oldenburg, Germany.5. Hackney, the English high-stepper.III.Light, or Roadster, Breeds1. American Trotter, developed in America.2. Thoroughbred, the English running horse.3. American Saddle Horse, from Kentucky and Virginia.
There is a marked difference in the form and type of these horses, and on this difference their usefulness depends.
Fig. 242.Fig. 242. Wide HockThis horse stands great strainsand is not fatigued easilyFig. 243.Fig. 243. Narrow HockThis horse becomes exhaustedvery easily
The draft breeds have short legs, and hence their bodies are comparatively close to the ground. The depth of the body should be about the same as the length of leg. All draft horses should have upright shoulders, so as to provide an easy support for the collar. The hock should be wide, so thatthe animal shall have great leverage of muscle for pulling. A horse having a narrow hock is not able to draw a heavy load and is easily exhausted and liable to curb-diseases (see Figs. 242 and 243).
Fig. 244.Fig. 244. The Roadster Type
The legs of all kinds of horses should be straight; a line dropped from the point of the shoulder to the ground should divide the knees, canon, fetlock, and foot into two equal parts. When the animal is formed in this way the feet have room to be straight and square, with just the breadth of a hoof between them (Fig. 241).
Roadsters are lighter in bone and less heavily muscled; their legs are longer than those of the draft horses and, as horsemen say, more "daylight" can be seen under the body. The neck is long and thin, but fits nicely into the shoulders. The shoulders are sloping and long and give the roadster ability to reach well out in his stride. Thehead is set gracefully on the neck and should be carried with ease and erectness.
Every man who is to deal with horses ought to become, by observation and study, an expert judge of forms, qualities, types, defects, and excellences.
Fig. 245.Fig. 245. Side View of LegsThe diagram shows how the straight linesought to cross the legs of a properly shaped horse
The horse's foot makes an interesting study. The horny outside protects the foot from mud, ice, and stones. Inside the hoof are the bones and gristle that serve as cushions to diminish the shock received while walking or running on hard roads or streets. When shoeing the horse the frog should not be touched with the knife. It is very seldom that any cutting need be done. Many blacksmiths do not know this and often greatly injure the foot.
Since the horse has but a small stomach, the food given should not be too bulky. In proportion to the horse's size, its grain ration should be larger than that of other animals. Draft horses and mules, however, can be fed a more bulky ration than other horses, because they have larger stomachs and consequently have more room to store food.
Fig. 246.Fig. 246. How to measure a Horse
The horse should be groomed every day. This keeps the pores of the skin open and the hair bright and glossy. When horses are working hard, the harness should be removed during the noon hour. During the cool seasons of the year, whenever a horse is wet with sweat, it should on stopping work, or when standing for awhile, be blanketed, for the animal is as liable as man to get cold in a draft or from moisture evaporating rapidly from its skin.
EXERCISEIf the pupil will take an ordinary tape measure, he can make some measurements of the horse that will be very interesting as well as profitable. Let him measure:1. The height of the horse at the withers, 1 to 1.2. The height of the horse at croup, 2 to 2.3. Length of shoulder, 1 to 3.4. Length of back, 4.5. Length of head, 5.6. Depth of body, 6 to 6.7. Daylight under body, 7 to 7.8. Distance from point of shoulder to quarter, 3 to 3.9. Width of forehead.10. Width between hips.Note. Many interesting comparisons can be made (1) by measuring several horses; (2) by studying the proportion between parts of the same horse.Proportions of a Horse1. How many times longer is the body than the head? Do you get the same result from different horses?2. How does the height at the withers compare with the height at the croup?3. How do these compare with the distance from quarter to shoulder?4. How does the length of the head compare with the thickness of the body and with the open space, or "daylight," under the body?
EXERCISE
If the pupil will take an ordinary tape measure, he can make some measurements of the horse that will be very interesting as well as profitable. Let him measure:
Note. Many interesting comparisons can be made (1) by measuring several horses; (2) by studying the proportion between parts of the same horse.
1. How many times longer is the body than the head? Do you get the same result from different horses?
2. How does the height at the withers compare with the height at the croup?
3. How do these compare with the distance from quarter to shoulder?
4. How does the length of the head compare with the thickness of the body and with the open space, or "daylight," under the body?
Fig. 247.Fig. 247. A Prize-winner
All farm animals were once calledcattle; now this term applies only to beef and dairy animals—neat cattle.
Our improved breeds are descended from the wild ox of Europe and Asia, and have attained their size and usefulnessby care, food, and selection. The uses of cattle are so familiar that we need scarcely mention them. Their flesh is a part of man's daily food; their milk, cream, butter, and cheese are on most tables; their hides go to make leather, and their hair for plaster; their hoofs are used for glue, and their bones for fertilizers, ornaments, buttons, and many other purposes.
There are two main classes of cattle—beef breeds and dairy breeds. The principal breeds of each class are as follows:
I.Beef Breeds1. Aberdeen-Angus, bred in Scotland, and often calleddoddies.2. Galloway, from Scotland.3. Shorthorn, an English breed of cattle.4. Hereford, also an English breed.5. Sussex, from the county of Sussex, England.II.Dairy Breeds1. Jersey, from the Isle of Jersey.2. Guernsey, from the Isle of Guernsey.3. Ayrshire, from Scotland.4. Holstein-Frisian, from Holland and Denmark.5. Brown Swiss, from Switzerland.
Other breeds of cattle are Devon, Dutch Belted, Red-Polled, Kerry, and West Highland.
In general structure there is a marked difference between the beef and dairy breeds. This is shown in Figs. 248, 249. The beef cow is square, full over the back and loins, and straight in the back. The hips are covered evenly with flesh, the legs full and thick, the under line, or stomach line, parallel to the back line, and the neck full and short. The eye should be bright, the face short, the bones of fine texture, and the skin soft and pliable.
Fig. 248.Fig. 248. Aberdeen-Angus Cow (a Beef Type)
The dairy cow is widely different from the beef cow. She shows a decided wedge shape when you look at her from front, side, or rear. The back line is crooked, the hip bones and tail bone are prominent, the thighs thin and poorly fleshed; there is no breadth to the back, as in the beef cow, and little flesh covers the shoulders; the neck is long and thin.
The udder of the dairy cow is most important. It should be full but not fleshy, be well attached behind, and extend well forward. The larger the udder the more milk will be given.
The skin of the dairy cow, like that of the beef breeds, should be soft and pliable and the bones fine-textured.
The Dairy Type.Because of lack of flesh on the back, loins, and thighs, the cow of the dairy type is not profitably raised for beef, nor is the beef so good as that of the beef types. This is because in the dairy-animal food goes to produce milk rather than beef. In the same way the beef cow gives little milk, since her food goes rather to fat than to milk. For the same reasons that you do not expect a plow horse to win on the race track, you do not expect a cow of the beef type to win premiums as a milker.
Fig. 249.Fig. 249. Jersey Cow (a Dairy Type)
"Scrub" cattle are not profitable. They mature slowly and consequently consume much food before they are able to give any return for it. Even when fattened, the fat andlean portions are not evenly distributed, and "choice cuts" are few and small.
By far the cheapest method of securing a healthy and profitable herd of dairy or beef cattle is to save only the calves whose sires are pure-bred animals and whose mothers are native cows. In this way farmers of even little means can soon build up an excellent herd.
Fig. 250.Fig. 250. Head of a Galloway Cow
Improving Cattle.The fact that it is not possible for every farmer to possess pure-bred cattle is no reason why he should not improve the stock he has. He can do this by using pure-bred sires that possess the qualities most to be desired. Scrub stock can be quickly improved by the continuous use of good sires. It is never wise to use grade, or cross-bred, sires, since the best qualities are not fixed in them.
Moreover, it is possible for every farmer to determine exactly the producing-power of his dairy cows. When the cows are milked, the milk should be weighed and a record kept. If this be done, it will be found that some cows produce as much as five hundred, and some as much as ten hundred, gallons a year, while others produce not more than two or three hundred gallons. If a farmer kills or sells his poor cows and keeps his best ones, he will soon have a herd of only heavy milkers. Ask your father to try this plan. Read everything you can find about taking care of cows and improving them, and then start a herd of your own.
Conclusions.(1) A cow with a tendency to get fat is not profitable for the dairy. (2) A thin, open, angular cow will make expensive beef. (3) "The sire is half the herd." This means that a good sire is necessary to improve a herd of cattle. The improvement from scrubs upward is as follows: the first generation is one-half pure; the second is three-fourths pure; the third is seven-eighths pure; the fourth is fifteen-sixteenths pure, etc. (4) By keeping a record of the quantity and quality of milk each cow gives you can tell which are profitable to raise from and which are not. (5) Good food, clean water, kindness, and care are necessary to successful cattle-raising.
Fig. 251.Fig. 251. Holstein Cow
The ownership of a well-bred animal usually arouses so much pride in the owner that the animal receives all the care that it merits. The watchful care given to such an animal leads to more thought of the other animals on the farm, and often brings about the upbuilding of an entire herd.
The sheep was perhaps the first animal domesticated by man, and to-day the domesticated sheep is found wherever man lives. It is found domesticated or wild in almost every climate, and finds means to thrive where other animals can scarcely live; it provides man with meat and clothing, and is one of the most profitable and most easily cared-for of animals.
Fig. 252.Fig. 252. A Young Shepherd
Sheep increase so rapidly, mature at such an early age, and have flesh so wholesome for food that nearly every farm should have its flock. Another consideration that may be urged in favor of sheep-raising is that sheep improve the land on which they are pastured.
Sheep are docile and easily handled, and they live on a greater diversity of food and require less grain than any other kind of live stock. In mixed farming there is enough food wasted on most farms to maintain a small flock of sheep.
Fig. 253.Fig. 253. Sheep have long been called the Golden-Hoofed Animals
Sheep may be divided into three classes:
I.Fine-Wooled Breeds1. American Merino.2. Delaine Merino.3. Rambouillets.4. Hampshire Down.5. Oxford Down.6. Cheviot.II.Medium-Wooled Breeds1. Southdown.2. Shropshire.3. Horned Dorset.III.Long-Wooled Breeds1. Leicester.2. Lincoln.3. Cotswold.
The first group is grown principally for wool, and mutton is secondary; in the second group, mutton comes first and wool second; in the third group both are important considerations. Wool is nature's protection for the sheep. Have you ever opened the fleece and observed the clean skin in which the fibers grow? These fibers, or hairs, are soroughened that they push all dirt away from the skin toward the outside of the fleece.