BAILING-UP.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2162, 29 January 1881, Page 4

BAILING-UP.

Although it is far preferable that the cows should bo made so docile that the milkmaid can go up to them in any part of the premises ■with stool and can and take their milk, yet ills often impossible to do so on account of the timid or wild nature of the animals, and it becomes necessary to confine, and in a measure to bind them. In effecting this operation it should always be iu mind that subduing them into docility is the one great point to be attained, and that noise, harshness, and cruelty can only defeat the objeot sought, instead of advancing it. If the bail must bo used, make it «• little of a place of discomfort and torture to the animal as possible. Let tho floor be hard enough to keep it dry, and so level that tho cow eon stand easily upon it without throwing her weight either upon her fora or hind legs ; let tho corners of tho bails he rounded off, so that they may not chafe or oat the cow’s neck and bead if she should happen to move ; let there be a gutter into which all droppings may surely fall so that tho ballroom may not be fouled; and bo sure to bare a feed trough at tho bailhead so arranged that she can oat without difficulty, _ and let it be so screened that no adjoining feeder can see and 11 hanker after ” that which is not intended for her. It is an almost universal practice to milk from tho off-side, and to tie tho near-side leg Imok to prevent tho cow kicking; but care should be taken to tie the leg so that oho can stand upon it—the objeot is no bettor effected by slinging her upon three legs, whilst the torture is sufficient to make her feel a dread of tho bail. This dread, however brought about, will make her unwilling to move into the bail next time, and then the milker is apt to speak crossly, and perhaps to take a stick to drive her in, with the result of making the animal more and more timid instead of inspiring confidence. Tho length of floor for the cow to stand upon when in the bail need not be more than 6ft 2in. The feed-trough can be 2ft high, perpendicular in front, 2ft 6in from front to back on top, and ■loping down the back to Ift 9in at the bottom. Tho gutter at the hack of the platform may bo a foot wide and rounded to eight inches deep. Tho bails should be 4ft 6in between tho sill and cap, or say sft altogether, with flinches between the bails. The shift-ing-bar or bail is pinned at the bottom,, and at the top opens out to a width of about 13 [inches, falling to the upright post. To prevent the cow slipping her head into the wrong place the space at the back of the shifting-bar is filled up with a board, out from a sft z Ift width from one corner at the bottom to the opposite corner at tho top, which mokes two fillings. At 3't from the widest end on the newly out angle s curve is taken out sufficiently wide to admit the hand far the purpose of lifting the shiftingbar when needed, Tho shifting-bar slides in a slot out in the cap at top, about a foot in length, and is kept in place by a pin •lipped in a hole behind it when the cow is bailed-up, or, better still, by a self-acting trap-door falling down behind it as soon as the bar has reached its proper position. This door is eight inches wide, and hinged, so that when the shifting bar is not in position it is kept lifted by the top end of the bar. The advantage of this arrangement is that there is bo loss of pins, and it is only necessary to put tho bar up to tho cow’s neck to lock it effectually and at once. To release the cow the trap needs only to be lifted, and this can be either done with the hand or by a string passing over a staple above the cow’s head, one end fastened to the trap and the other reaching to any convenient position.—“ Exchange.”