attendance was light. The general sentiment expressed was that sheep
growing was profitable in Iowa, if the dogs could be got rid of. The
Legislature will be importuned to abolish the curs. The session the last
evening was devoted to the tariff on wool. The petition of the Ohio
sheep-growers, presented to Congress, asking a restoration of the tariff
law of 1867 on wool, was read and unanimously accepted. Officers for the
ensuing year were elected as follows: S. P. McNeil, Gordon Grove,
President; J. C. Robinson, Albia, Samuel Russell, West Grove, and A. N.
Stewart, Grove Station, Vice-Presidents; A. J. Blakely, Grinnell,
Secretary.
Polled Cattle-Breeders.
Twenty-seven head of Galloway and Angus cattle, belonging to A. B.
Matthews, Kansas City, were sold at auction at Des Moines, Iowa, January
9th, at prices ranging from $235 to $610. The sale aggregated $10,425,
or $386 per head. In the evening of the same day some twenty-five polled
cattle-breeders met and organized a State association. An address was
read by Abner Graves, of Dow City, in which the breed was duly extolled.
An interesting discussion followed, in the course of which it was stated
that the polled breeds have two anatomical peculiarities in common with
the American bison, indicating a close relation to, or possible descent
from the buffalo family. The officers elected were: President, Abner
Graves, of Dow City; Vice-Presidents, Messrs. Bryan, of Montezuma, D. J.
Moore, of Dunlop, and Charles Farwell, of Montezuma; Secretary and
Treasurer, H. G. Gue, of Des Moines. Liberal subscriptions were made to
the articles of incorporation which were formed inside the organization,
after the meeting adjourned.
Merino Sheep Breeders.
The sixth annual meeting of the Northern Illinois Merino Sheep Breeders'
Association was held at Elgin, January 9th. The meeting was well
attended and enthusiastic. George E. Peck presided. The annual report of
Secretary Vandercook showed the association to be in a growing
condition. The discussion of the day was mainly on the tariff question.
A communication from Columbus Delano, President of the National
Wool-Growers Association was read, asking for the co-operation of the
society in a move upon Congress for the restoration of duties on
imported wools as they were established by the act of 1867 met with a
hearty reception. Thomas McD. Richards delivered an interesting address
on wool-growing and the merino as a mutton sheep. He argued that a
prevailing idea to the effect that good mutton could not come from
fine-wool sheep was entirely erroneous. Touching on the tariff question
he said the past year had been an unprofitable one to mere wool-growers,
and that sheep had been unsalable at paying prices. The removal of the
duty on wool had paralyzed the industry, and the tariff must be
restored. There was an abundance of competition among the wool-growers
of our own land without compelling them to compete with the stockmen of
South America and Australia. The farmers had not clamored for a removal
of the duty on wool. If the tariff was not restored the wool interests
of the country would be ruined. Already legislation had lowered the
price of wool several cents, and had depreciated the value of sheep at
least $1 per head. The tariff was also dilated upon by Col. John S.
Wilcox, of Elgin, Daniel Kelley, of Wheaton, and Asa H. Crary. The
conclusion arrived at was that energetic and united action for the
restoration of the duty was the thing desired. V. P. Richmond read an
interesting essay on "Merinos; Their Characteristics and Attributes."
The annual election of officers resulted as follows: President, George
E. Peck, Geneva; Vice-Presidents, Thomas McD. Richards, Woodstock, and
Daniel Kelley, Wheaton; Secretary and Treasurer, W. C. Vandercook,
Cherry Valley. It was decided to hold the association's annual public
sheep-shearing at Richmond, McHenry county, April 29 and 30, and C. R.
Lawson, L. H. Smith, and A. S. Peck were designated a committee to
represent the association at the annual sheep-shearing of the Wisconsin
association.
Cattle Disease.
The House committee on agriculture last week discussed in a general way
the subject of pleuro pneumonia in cattle. Mr. Loring, Commissioner of
Agriculture, expressed his views upon the subject in a short speech. Mr.
Grinnell, of Iowa, chairman of the committee appointed by the convention
of cattle men, in Chicago, to visit Washington to influence Legislation
in reference to diseased cattle, was present. It was arranged that a
sub-committee, consisting of Congressmen Hatch, Dibrell, Williams,
Winans, Wilson, and Ochiltree, should meet the representatives of the
cattle interests at the Agricultural Department. Pleuro-pneumonia among
cattle will be the first subject considered. The House committee on
agriculture will report a bill at an early day.
The assistant Secretary of the Treasury has transmitted to the House the
report of the cattle commission, consisting of James Law, E. F. Thayer,
and J. H. Sanders, for the past year. The commission recommended that
the National Government prevent the shipment northward, out of the area
infected with Texas fever, of all cattle whatsoever, excepting from the
beginning of November to the beginning of March. Special attention is
invited by the Assistant Secretary to the recommendation of the
commission that the Secretary of the Treasury be empowered to order the
slaughter and safe disposal of all imported herds that may be found
infected on their arrival in the United States, or may develop a
dangerous or contagious disease during quarantine; and that he be also
empowered to have all ruminants (other than cattle) and all swine
imported into the United States, subjected to inspection by veterinary
surgeons, and if necessary to prevent the spread of contagious diseases,
slaughtered or submitted to quarantine until they shall be considered
uninfected; and that an appropriation of $1,500,000 be made to defray
the expenses of preventing a further spread of the lung plague among
cattle in this country, and for stamping out the plague now existing. A
supplemental report of the majority of commission, submitted by Law and
Thayer, and of a later date than the first report is also submitted.
This report deals especially with the inadequacy to the end sought to be
accomplished of the inspection of cattle at ports of export, and
recommends that such inspection and guarantee be delayed. Their reason
for doubting the adequacy of the inspection at ports of exports is that
neither lung plague nor Texas fever can be certainly detected by such
examination, because those diseases pass through an average stage of
incubation for thirty days, during which it is impossible for the most
accomplished expert to detect the presence of the germ in the system.
The result would be, if such an inspection were the only thing relied
upon, that cattle which had been exposed to infection in the stock yards
several days before inspection would pass that inspection, but three
weeks later, when they arrived at a foreign port, would show marked
symptoms of the disease. This result destroys absolutely the efficacy of
the certificates of inspection as to guarantees to foreign imported
cattle. The report closes with the statement that so long as the
infected districts in this country can not be secluded, the landing of
infected cattle in England from this country can not be prevented, and
so long as American cattle show these diseases on their arrival in
England we can hope for no modification of the present restrictions that
country places against American cattle.
* * * * *
At the conference between House sub-committee on agriculture and the
Chicago convention committee a general discussion on contagious diseases
among cattle was indulged in. The committee of cattle men, in answer to
the inquiries of representatives, said diseases existed in Delaware, the
District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Connecticut, New
York, and possibly in other places. In New York a few counties are
reported infected.
Mr. Hunt, of New Jersey, said if Congress would appropriate an adequate
amount payable to the order of the authorities of the different States
and protect New Jersey for six months from the importation of diseased
cattle, the State in that time would stamp out pleuro-pneumonia in its
territory.
Dr. Law, of the Cattle Commission of the Treasury Department, said the
disease was undoubtedly the result of importation. He said that with
plenty of money and a Federal law it could be eradicated in twelve
months. New York City had at one time stamped it out in three months. He
advocated the burning of buildings where the disease occurred.
Judge Carey, of Wyoming, gave the history of the disease, saying it was
like Asiatic cholera spreading through Europe and reaching New York
forty years ago. It existed on the continent of Europe, in Great
Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and this country. He said $100,000,000
was invested in the cattle business of the United States.
Representative Hatch said that Mr. Singleton, of Illinois, had offered
$1,000 reward for an animal afflicted with pleuro-pneumonia, but no one
had accepted.
Several members of the cattle committee at once offered to show the
disease to any one doubting its existence.
Representative Weller gave notice that he would offer a bill
appropriating $10,000,000 by the Government for suppressing contagious
diseases among cattle, to be distributed among the States and
Territories in the ratio of representation in Congress, provided that
each State appropriated a sum equal to the amount given by the
Government.
The legislation proposed is to make the shipment of cattle known to be
diseased a penal offense; to establish a cattle bureau in the Department
of Agriculture; increase the power of the Commissioner of Agriculture;
provide funds for an elaborate investigation of the diseases of cattle;
and provide an appropriation to purchase diseased cattle so they can be
destroyed. An appropriation will be asked the first year of $500,000.
THE HORSE AND HIS TREATMENT.
NUMBER TWO.
First, as regards food. The horse is naturally a wild animal and
therefore, though domesticated, he demands such food as nature would
provide for him. But man seems to forget this. Nature's food would be
largely of grass. It is true that when domesticated and put to hard work
he needs some food of a more concentrated and highly nutritious nature
than grass; but while labor may necessitate grain, the health of his
system yet demands a liberal allowance of grass. In direct opposition to
this many farmers keep their horses off pasture while they are at work,
which comprises almost the entire season of green pasture. I have
frequently heard farmers say that their horses did best during the
spring and summer, if kept in the stable at night. I can only say that I
have found the very opposite to be true and I believe I have carefully
and faithfully tested the matter. I have found that when the horses were
allowed the range of a blue grass pasture at night, they endured work
the best because they digested their grain and hay better, and good
digestion made good appetites. In fact, I consider pasture the best food
and the best medicine a horse can be given. If his coat is rough, if he
is stiff and lifeless, if he is losing flesh and strength, turn him on
pasture and he will soon grow better.
Some grasses make far better pasture than others. All in all, I consider
blue grass the best. It comes earliest in the spring, and while very
palatable and easily digested, seems to possess more substance than
other grasses. Next I would place timothy. Clover is good medicine for a
sick horse, but because of its action on the salivary glands is apt to
make work horses "slobber" at certain seasons.
For winter, hay is provided. But how is it provided in a majority of
cases? The grass is cut out of season; is cured negligently, very likely
is exposed to rain; and then piled up to mold and rot. A few tarpaulins
to put over the cocks in case of rain, and barracks or mow to protect
and preserve the hay would give the horse good hay, and be one of the
very best of investments. It should be remembered that the digestive
organs of none other of our farm animals are so easily deranged as those
of the horse. Musty, moldy hay is the moving cause of much disease. The
man who can not provide a good mow should sell his horses to some farmer
who can manage better.
Though blue grass is the best for pasture, timothy is the best for hay.
Clover makes better hay than blue grass. Corn fodder has substance, and
pound for pound contains about two-thirds as much nutriment as hay. But
it is not good forage for the horse. Where hay is procurable corn
fodder should never be fed.
I am convinced that the great majority of farmers do nor feed their
horses enough forage. I know of farmers who do not feed hay at all when
their horses are at work, which is more than half the year. Grain is fed
exclusively. Yet they wonder why their horses lose flesh and have rough
coats. Feeding a horse all grain is like feeding a man all meat. The
food is so oily and difficult of digestion that it soon deranges the
digestive organs. The horse should have all the hay he wishes to eat, at
all seasons of the year. This brings me to another error in his
treatment.
When at work the horse should have at least ninety minutes for each
meal. My observation convinces me that a large number of farmers do not
give him this much time. Their reason for neglecting to do so is, that
it would be a loss of time. But the very opposite of this is the case.
Time is gained. The horse has opportunity to eat slowly, which is
essential to complete digestion; can eat all he wishes; and has time to
rest after eating, giving the organs of digestion a chance to work. Give
your horse an hour and a half to eat his noon-day meal, at least, and at
the end of the season you will find that by so doing you have gained
time. He may not have walked before the plow and harrow so many hours,
but he has stepped faster and pulled more energetically.
Another error is the feeding of too much grain. Some farmers have grain
in the feeding troughs all the time during the spring and summer. The
horse is sated. This manner may do for a hog, whose only business is to
lie around, grunt, and put on fat; but for a horse it will not do. A
horse should never be given all the grain he will eat. At every meal he
should clean out his box, and then be ready to eat hay for at least
fifteen minutes.
Another error is in confining the grain feed almost altogether to corn.
Corn is a heavy, gross diet. It contains a large proportion of oil, and
tends to produce lymph and fat, which are inimical to health, and
destructive of vigor and endurance. Oats is a much better food; yet it
is very rarely fed in the South, and not half of the farmers of the
North feed it. Corn heats the blood, and on this account should not be
fed in hot weather. Oats is a lighter, easier diet, does not heat the
blood, and makes muscle, rather than fat. All in all, oats is the most
economical food, at least for horses at work in hot weather.
One more error which I shall notice in feeding is the giving of too much
dry food. The horse does best upon moist food, or that which has a large
percentage of water in its composition. Carrots, turnips, beets,
pumpkins, etc., may be given in small quantities with decided advantage,
especially in the winter. In summer the hay should be sprinkled with
water, and the oats soaked. This will not only make the food more
palatable and easily digested, but will obviate the necessity of
watering after meals. Many object to watering after the horse has eaten,
because the fluid carries the grain into the intestines where it can not
be digested. But if grain and forage are dampened, the horse will not
require watering after a meal. He will rarely drink if water is offered
him, and the moisture will aid digestion. This is surely better and more
humane than to give a horse dry food and then work him for six or seven
hours in the hot sun, afterward, without any drink.
Of the quality of water given to the horse there is not much to condemn.
He generally gets better water than the hog, or sheep, because he is
very fastidious in this matter and will not drink foul water unless
driven to do so by dire necessity. But I believe that three times is not
often enough to water a horse at work in hot weather, though this is the
common and time honored practice. The stomach of the horse is
small--very small in proportion to the size of his body. When he has
labored in summer for half a day his thirst is intense, and when he is
permitted to slake it he drinks too much, producing really serious
disorders. No valid objection can be urged against watering five times
per day. The arguments are all in its favor.
The errors in stabling are fully as grievous as any we have noticed. I
have lately written of the evils of lack of light and proper ventilation
in these columns, and also discussed the problem of currying in various
phases, so shall not repeat here what I have heretofore written. One of
the other evils of stable management often allowed, is the accumulation
of manure. It is not within the scope of this article to notice the evil
the neglect to save manure works to the farm and the farmer. But that
the accumulation of the manure in the stable is a hurt to the horse, no
sensibly reasoning person can doubt. Its fermentation gives off
obnoxious gases which pollute and poison the air the horse is
compelled to breathe, and thus in turn poison the animal's blood. This
is a more fruitful cause of disease than is generally supposed. The
gases prove injurious to the eye, and when we consider the accumulation
of manure and the exclusion of light, we are not apt to wonder much at
the prevalence of blindness among horses. The manure should be cleaned
out in the morning, at noon, and again at night. Use sawdust or straw
liberally for bedding. It will absorb the urine, and as soon as foul,
should be removed to the compost heap with the dung, where it will soon
be converted into fine, excellent manure.
Another thing that deserves attention is the stable floor. I
unhesitatingly say that a composition of clay and fine gravel is best.
Pavement is the worst, and planks are next. The clay and gravel should
be put in just moist enough to pack solidly. Stamp till very firm and
then allow to dry and harden for a week. The stable floor should be kept
perfectly level. Do not make the horse stand in a strained, unnatural
position. The stall should be large enough for him to move around--at
least six feet wide. Narrow stalls are a nuisance but very common.
JOHN M. STAHL.
COST OF PORK ON 1883 CORN.
About three weeks ago the "Man of the Prairie" wanted to know how many
pounds of pork a bushel of corn would make this year. As I wanted to
know the same thing I have weighed my hogs every week and also the corn
I fed them, and for the benefit of your readers I will give the results:
December 10--15 hogs, weight 4,130
" 17--" " " 4,280 ate 960 lbs Corn.
" 24--" " " 4,410 " 864 "
" 31--" " " 4,572 " 816 "
This gives a gain, in twenty-one days, of 442 lbs, and they ate in that
time 2,640 lbs., or 47-1/7 bu. corn.
The corn was planted about the eighth of May; was the large white
variety; is quite loose on the cob, and a good many of the ears are
mouldy. A common bushel basket holds of it in ear 35 lbs. The hogs were
fed the corn in ear twice a day, and had all the water they wanted to
drink. This gives 9-62/165 lbs. pork to the bushel. At the present price
of pork ($5.25) it would make the corn worth about 49-1/2 cts. per
bushel.
G. W. POWESS.
WINNEBAGO CO., ILL.
P.S. The weight of corn given is its weight shelled, as it shells out 55
lbs from 80 lbs. in ear.
G. F. P.
VETERINARY
Grease, So-Called.
This ailment occurs sometimes in the fore feet, but oftener in the hind
feet; and though neither contagious nor epizootic, it not unfrequently
appears about one time or within a brief period, on most or all of the
horses in a stable. It essentially consists in a stoppage of the normal
secretions of the skin, which is beneficially provided for maintaining a
soft condition of the skin of the heel, and preventing chapping and
excoriation; and it usually develops itself in redness, dryness, and
scurfiness of the skin; but in bad or prolonged cases, it is accompanied
with deep cracks, an ichorous discharge, more or less lameness, and even
great ulceration, and considerable fungus growth; and in the worst cases
it spreads athwart all the heel, extends on the fetlock, or ascends the
leg, and is accompanied with extensive swelling and a general oozing
discharge, of a peculiar strong, disagreeable odor.
Most of the causes of grease are referable to bad management, especially
in regard to great and sudden changes in the exterior temperature of the
heels. The feet of the horse may be alternately heated by the bedding
and cooled by draft from the open stable door; or they may first be made
hot and sensitive by the irritating action of the urine and filth on the
stable floor, and then violently reacted on by the cold breezes of the
open air, or they may be moist and reeking when the horse is led out to
work, and then chilled for a long period by the slow evaporation of the
moisture from them amid the clods and soil of the field; or they may be
warm and even perspiring with the labor of the day, and next plunged
into a stream or washed with cold water, and then allowed to dry partly
in the open air and partly in the stable; and in many of these ways, or
of any others which occasion sudden changes of temperature in the heels,
especially when those changes are accompanied or aggravated by the
irritating action of filth, grease is exceedingly liable to be induced.
Want of exercise, high feeding, and whatever tends to accumulate or to
stagnate the normal greasy secretion in the skin of the heels, also
operate, in some degree, as causes. By mere good management and by
avoiding these known causes, horse owners might prevent the appearance
of this disease altogether.
In the early, dry, scurfy stage of grease, the heels may be well cleaned
with soft soap and water, and afterwards thoroughly dried, and then
treated with a dilution of Goulard's extract--one part to eight parts of
water, or one part with six parts of lard oil. In the mildest form of
the stage of cracks and ichorous discharge, after cleansing, some drying
powder, such as equal quantities of white lead and putty (impure
protoxide of zinc), may be applied, or simply the mixture of Goulard's
extract with lard oil may be continued. In the virulent form of cracks,
accompanied with ulceration, the heels ought to be daily washed clean
with warm water, and afterwards bathed with a mild astringent lotion,
and every morning and evening thinly poulticed or coated with carbolized
ointment; and the whole system ought to be acted on by alteratives, by
nightly bran mash, and, if the animal be in full condition, with a dose
of purgative medicine. In the worst and most extensively spread cases,
poultices of a very cooling kind, particularly poultices of scraped
carrots or scraped turnips, ought to be used day and night, both for the
sake of their own action, and as preparatives to the action of the
astringent application; and the whole course of treatment ought to aim
at the abatement of the inflammatory action, previous to the stopping of
the discharge. Nothing tends so much to prevent grease and swelling of
the legs as frequent hand rubbing and cleansing the heels carefully as
soon as a horse comes in from exercise or work. In inveterate cases of
grease, where the disease appears to have become habitual, in some
degree, a run at grass, when in season, is the only remedy. If a dry
paddock is available, where a horse can be sheltered in bad weather, it
will be found extremely convenient; as in such circumstances, he may
perform his usual labor, and at the same time be kept free from the
complaint.
Foul in the Foot.