THE CARE OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS


XXXIV.

THE CARE OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS.


One of the most interesting illustrations of the design of our
benevolent Creator in establishing the family state is the nature of
the domestic animals connected with it. At the very dawn of life, the
infant watches with delight the graceful gambols of the kitten, and
soon makes it a playmate. Meantime, its out-cries when hurt appeal to
kindly sympathy, and its sharp claws to fear; while the child's mother
has a constant opportunity to inculcate kindness and care for weak and
ignorant creatures. Then the dog becomes the out-door playmate and
guardian of early childhood, and he also guards himself by cries of
pain, and protects himself by his teeth. At the same time, his faithful
loving nature and caresses awaken corresponding tenderness and care;
while the parent again has a daily opportunity to inculcate these
virtues toward the helpless and dependent. As the child increases in
knowledge and reason, the horse, cows, poultry, and other domestic
animals come under his notice. These do not ordinarily express their
hunger or other sufferings by cries of distress, but depend more on
the developed reason and humanity of man. And here the parent is called
upon to instruct a child in the nature and wants of each, that he may
intelligently provide for their sustenance and for their protection
from injury and disease.

To assist in this important duty of home life, which so often falls
to the supervision of woman, the following information is prepared
through the kindness of one of the editors of a prominent, widely
known, agricultural paper.

Domestic animals are very apt to catch the spirit and temper of their
masters. A surly man will be very likely to have a cross dog and a
biting horse. A passionate man will keep all his animals in moral fear
of him, making them, snappish, and liable to hurt those of whom they
are not afraid.

It is, therefore, most important that all animals should be treated
uniformly with kindness. They are all capable of returning affection,
and will show it very pleasantly if we manifest affection for them.
They also have intuitive perceptions of our emotions which we can not
conceal. A sharp, ugly dog will rarely bite a person who has no fear
of him. A horse knows the moment a man mounts or takes the reins whether
he is afraid or not; and so it is with other animals.

If live stock can not be well fed, they ought not to be kept. One well
wintered horse is worth as much, as two that drag through on straw,
and by browsing the hedgerows. The same is true of oxen, and
emphatically so of cows. The owner of a half-starved dog loses the use
of him almost altogether; for, at the very time--the night--when lie
is most needed as a guard, he must be off scouring the country for
food.

_Shelter_ in winter is most important for cows. They should have
good tight stables or byres, well ventilated, and so warm that water
in a pail will only freeze a little on the top the severest nights.
Oxen should have the same stabling, though they bear cold better.
Horses in stables will bear almost any degree of cold, if they have
all they can eat. Sheep, except young lambs, are well enough sheltered
in dry sheds, with one end open. Cattle, sheep, and dogs do not sweat
as horses do, they "loll;" that is, water or slobber runs from their
tongues; hence, they are not liable to take cold as the horse is. Hogs
bear cold pretty well; but they eat enough to convince any one that
true economy lies in giving them warm sties in winter, for the colder
they are the more they eat. Fowls will not lay in cold weather unless
they have light and warm quarters.

_Cleanliness_ is indispensable, if one would keep his animals healthy.
In their wild state all our domestic animals are very clean, and, at the
same time, very healthy. The hog is not naturally a dirty animal, but
quite the reverse. He enjoys currying as much as a horse or a cow, and
would be as careful of his litter as a cat if he had a fair chance.
Horses ought to be groomed daily; cows and oxen as often as twice a
week; dogs should be washed with soapsuds frequently. Stables should be
cleaned out daily. Absorbents of liquid in stables should be removed as
often as they become wet. Dry earth is one of the best absorbents, and
is especially useful in the fowl-house. Hogs in pens should have straw
for their rests or lairs, and it should be often renewed.

_Parasitic Vermin_.--These are lice, fleas, ticks, the scale insects,
and other pests which afflict our live stock. There are many ways of
destroying them; the best and safest is a free use of _carbolic acid
soap_. The larger animals, as well as hogs, dogs, and sheep may be
washed in strong suds of this soap, without fear, and the application
repeated after a week. This generally destroys both the creatures and
their eggs. Hen lice are best destroyed by greasing the fowls, and
dusting them with flowers of sulphur. Sitting hens must never be
greased, but the sulphur may be dusted freely in their nests,
and it is well to put it in all hens' nests.

_Salt and Water_.--All animals except poultry require salt, and all,
free supplies of fresh water.

_Light_.--Stables, or places where any kind of animals are confined,
should have plenty of light. Windows are not more important in a house
than in a barn. The _sun_ should come in freely; and if it shines
directly upon the stock, all the better. When beeves and sheep are
fattening very rapidly, the exclusion of the light makes them more
quiet, and fatten faster; but their state is an unnatural and hardly a
healthy one.

_Exercise_ in the open air is important for breeding animals. It
is especially necessary for horses of all kinds. Cows need very little
and swine none, unless kept for breeding.

_Breeding_,--Always use thorough-bred males, and improvement is certain.

_Horses_.--The care which horses require varies with the circumstances
in which the owner is placed, and the uses to which they are put. In
general, if kept stabled, they should be fed with good upland hay,
almost as much as they will eat; and if absent from the stable, and at
work most of the day, they should have all they will eat of hay,
together with four to eight quarts of oats or an equal weight of other
grain or meal. Barley is good for horses, and so is dry corn. Corn-meal
put upon cut hay, wet and well-mixed, is good, steady feed, if not in
too large quantities. Four quarts a day may be fed unmixed with other
grain; but if the horse be hard worked and needs more, mix the meal with
wheat bran, or linseed oil-cake meal, or use corn and oats ground
together; carrots are especially wholesome. A quart of linseed oil-cake
meal, daily, is an excellent occasional addition to a horse's food, when
carrots can not be had. It gives a lustre to his coat, and brings the
new coat of hair out in the spring. A stabled horse needs daily
exercise, as much as to trot three miles. Where a horse is traveling, it
is well to give him six quarts of oats in the morning, four at noon, and
six at night.

Thorough grooming is indispensable to the health of horses. Especial
care should be taken of the legs and fetlocks, that no dirt remain to
cause that distressing disease, _grease_ or _scratches_, which results
from filthy fetlocks and standing in dirty stables. When a horse comes
in from work on muddy roads with dirty legs, they should be immediately
cleaned, the dirt brushed off, then rubbed with straw; then, if very
dirty, washed clean and rubbed dry with a piece of sacking. A horse
should never stand in a draught of cold air, if he can not turn and put
his back to it. If sweaty or warm from work, he should be blanketed, if
he is to stand a minute in the winter air. If put at once into the
stable, he should be stripped and rubbed down with straw actively for
five minutes or more, and then blanketed. The blanket must be removed in
an hour, and the horse given water and feed, if it is the usual time. It
will not hurt him to eat hay when hot, unless he be thoroughly
exhausted, when all food should be withheld for a while.

It is very comforting to a tired horse, when he is too hot to drink,
to sponge out his mouth with cool water. A horse should never drink
when very hot, nor be turned into a yard to "cool off," even in summer,
neither should he be turned out to pasture before he is quite cool.

_Cows_.--Gentle but firm treatment will make a cow easy to milk
and to handle in every way. If stabled or yarded, cows should have
access to water at all times, or have it frequently offered to them.
Clover hay is probably the best steady food for milk cows. Cornstalks
cut up, thoroughly soaked with water for half a day, and then sprinkled
with corn or oil-cake meal is perhaps unsurpassed as good winter food
for milk cows. The amount of meal may vary. With plenty of oil-meal,
there is little danger of feeding too much, as that is loosening to
the bowels and a safe nutritious article. Corn-meal alone, in large
quantities, is too heating. Roots should, if possible, form part of
the diet of a milch cow, especially before and soon after calving;
feed well before this period, yet not to make the cow very fat; but
it is better to err in that way than to have her "come in" thin. Take
the calf away from the mother as soon as it stands tip, and the
separation will worry neither dam nor young. This is always best,
unless the calf is to be kept with the cow. The calf will soon learn
to drink its food, if two fingers be held in its mouth. Let it have
all the first drawn milk for three days as soon as milked; after this,
skimmed milk warmed to blood heat. Soon a little fine scalded meal may
be mixed with the milk; and it will, at three to five weeks old, nibble
hay and grass. It is well also to keep a box containing some dry
wheat-bran and fine corn-meal mixed in the calf-pen, so that calves
may take as much as they like.

In milking, put the fingers around the teat close to the bag; then
firmly close the forefingers of each hand alternately, immediately
squeezing with the other fingers. The forefingers prevent the milk
flowing back into the bag, while the others press it out. Sit with the
left knee close to the right hind leg of the cow, the head pressed
against her flank, the left hand always ready to ward off a blow from
her feet, which the gentlest cow may give almost without knowing it,
if her tender teats be cut by long nails, or if a wart be hurt, or her
bag be tender. She must be stripped dry every time she is milked, or
she will dry up; and if she gives much milk, it pays to milk three
times a day, as nearly eight hours apart as possible. Never stop while
milking till done, as this will cause the cow to stop giving milk.

To tether a cow, tie her by one hind leg, making the rope fast above
the fetlock joint, and protecting the limb with a piece of an old
bootleg or similar thing. The knot must be one that will not slip;
regular fetters of iron bound with leather are much better.

A cow should go unmilked two months before calving, and her milk should
not be used by the family till four days after that time.

_Swine_.--The filthy state of hog-pens is allowed on account of
the amount of manure they will make by working over all sorts of
vegetable matter, spoiled hay, weeds, etc., etc. This is unhealthy for
the family near and also for the animal. The hog is, naturally, a
cleanly animal, and if given a chance he will keep himself very neat
and clean. Breeding sows should have the range of a small pasture, and
be regularly fed. They need fresh water constantly, and often suffer
for lack of it when they have liquid swill, which they do not like to
drink. All hogs should have a warm, dry, well-littered pen to lie in,
away from flies and disturbance of any kind. They are fond of charcoal,
and it is worth while frequently to throw a few handfuls where they
can get at it. It has a very beneficial effect on the appetite,
regulates the tone of the stomach and digestive organs, and can not
do any harm. Pigs ought always to be well fed and kept growing fast;
and when being fattened, they should be penned always, the herd being
sorted so that all may have an equal chance. It is well to feed soft
corn in the ear; but hard corn should always be ground and cooked for
pigs.

_Sheep_.--In the winter, sheep need deep, well-littered, dry
sheds, dry yards, and hay, wheat, or oat straw, as much as they will
eat. They should be kept gaining by grain regularly fed to them, and
so distributed that each gets its share. Corn, either whole or ground,
or oil-cake meal, or both, are used for fattening sheep. They will
easily surfeit themselves on any grain except oil-meal, which is very
safe feed for them, and usually economical. Strong sheep will often
drive the weaker ones away, and so get more than their share of food
and make themselves sick. This must be guarded against, and the flock
sorted, keeping the weaker and stronger apart.

Sheep are very useful in clearing land of brush and certain weeds,
which they gnaw down, and kill. To accomplish this, the land must be
overstocked, and it is best not to keep sheep on short pasturage more
than a few weeks at a time; but if they are returned after a few days,
it will serve as good a purpose as if they were to be kept on all the
time. Sheep at pasture must be restrained by good fences, or they will
be a great nuisance. Dog-proof hedge fences of Osage orange are to
be highly recommended, wherever this plant will grow. Mutton sheep
will generally pay better to raise than merinos, but they need more
care.

_Poultry_.--Few objects of labor are more remunerative than poultry,
raised on a moderate scale. _Turkeys_, when young, need great care; some
animal food, dry, warm quarters, and must be kept out of the wet grass,
and kept in when it rains. As soon as fledged, they become very hardy,
and, with free range, will almost take care of themselves. _Geese_ need
water and good grass pasture. _Ducks_ do very well without water to swim
in, if they have all they need to drink. They will lay a great many eggs
if kept shut in a pen until say eight o'clock in the morning. If let out
earlier, they wander away, and will hide their nests, and lay only about
as many eggs as they can cover. It is best to set duck's eggs under
hens, and to keep young ducks shut up in a dry roomy pen for four weeks,
at least. _Fowls_ need light, warm, dry quarters in winter, plenty of
feed, but not too much. They relish animal food, and ought to have some
frequently to make them lay. Pork or beef scrap-cake can be bought for
two to three cents a pound, and is very good for them. Any kind of grain
is good for poultry. Nothing is better than wheat screenings. Early
hatched chickens must be kept in a warm, dry, sunny room, with plenty of
gravel, and the hen should have no more than eight or nine chickens to
brood; though in summer, one hen will take good care of fifteen. Little,
chickens, turkeys, and ducks need frequent feeding, and must have their
water changed often. It is well to grease the body of the hen and the
heads of the chicks with lard, in order to prevent their becoming
lousy.

Hens set about twenty days, and should be well fed and watered. Cold
or damp weather is bad for young fowls, and when they have been chilled,
pepper-corns are a good remedy, in addition to the warmth of an
inclosed dry place.

The most absorbing part of the "Woman's question" of the present time
is the remedy for the varied sufferings of women who are widows or
unmarried, and without means of support. As yet, few are aware how
many sources of lucrative enterprise and industry lie open to woman
in the employments directly connected with the family state. A woman
can invest capital in the dairy and qualify herself to superintend a
dairy farm as well as a man. And if she has no capital of her own, if
well trained for this business, she can find those who have capital
ready to furnish--an investment that well managed will become
profitable. And, too, the raising of poultry, of dogs, and of sheep
are all within the reach of a woman with proper abilities and training
for this business. So that if a woman chooses, she can find employment
both interesting and profitable in studying the care of domestic
animals.

_Bees_.--But one of the most profitable as well as interesting
kinds of business for a woman is the care of bees. In a recent
agricultural report, it is stated that one lady bought four hives for
ten dollars, and in five years she was offered one thousand five hundred
dollars for her stock, and refused it as not enough. In addition to
this increase of her capital, in one of these five years she sold
twenty-two hives and four hundred and twenty pounds of honey. It is
also stated that in five years one man, from six colonies of bees to
start with, cleared eight thousand pounds of honey and one hundred and
fifty-four colonies of bees.

The raising of bees and their management is so curious and as yet
unknown an art in most parts of our country, that any directions or
advice will be omitted in this volume, as requiring too much space,
and largely set forth and illustrated in the second part. When properly
instructed, almost any woman in the city, as easily as in the country,
can manage bees, and make more profit than in any other method demanding
so little time and labor. But in the modes ordinarily practiced, few
can make any great profit in this employment.

It is hoped a time is at hand when every woman will be trained to some
employment by which she can secure to herself an independent home and
means to support a family, in case she does not marry, or is left a
widow, with herself and a family to support.