Cow Shed Conveniences.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 409, 9 October 1889, Page 3

Cow Shed Conveniences.

Waldo F. Brown, the well known American writer on dairy farming, believes in having a small cupboard with a hinged door in every cow shed. It can be made, he goes on to say, from a box thab can be had for about two shillings, and should not cost complete, with two or three shelve? and hinges, above four or five shillings. Keep in it a supply of cloths and a sponge to be used in cleaning the bag of any cow that gets ib dirty. Here also keep something to apply to cracked teats, mutton tallow is good but I think that vassaline is better Wh n the calf is allowed to suck in cold weather and the teats are left wee and slimy they are almost sure to get sore, especially if the cow does nob give as much milk as the calf wants, and ib is allowed to tag ab her long after she is milked clean. If the calf is removed as soon as the milk is taken and the bag i? wiped dry and a very little tallow or vassaline applied there will be little danger of cracks, and you will nob be likely to do this unless you keep the needed material in the stable and in a safe place. Another thing I would recommend is a milking tube. Probably nob one farmer in a dozen ever saw one, bub anyone who has owned cows for five years has probably seen bhe bime when the use of one for a week or two would have been worth many times its cost, and perhaps would have prevented a spoiled bag. They are made of coin so as not to corrode, and will draw bhe milk as clean as ib can be milked by hand, although nob quite so fast. I have had them for seven years and in several instances bhey have saved a cow from losing her bag. A year ago I bought a large Shorthorn cow from the pasture where her calt had run with her all summer, and her teats cracked so that bhe blood would ooze out between my fingers if I tried to milk her, but by using the tubes I had them sound and well in ten days. In June last my tenant had a cow get into a barbed wire fence and cut a teat fearfully, bub by the use of one of the tubes he was made able to save ib. The bubes retail ab one dollar each and unless losb i will lasb a lifebime. It is safest in using bhem to have bhe floor clean of straw and trash, so that if a tube is accidentally j dropped ib will not be lost. A good shelf of milk buckets and stools will be found a convenience, as you will always know where to find bhe bucket and stool, the milk will be more likely bo be kept clean and less likely to be spilled if on a shelf. In building a new cow stable ib will be found a great convenience bo have a bin for sawdusb as convenient as possible, so that your bedding material will be handy, and there should always be a meal bin in front of the cows. I have one other thing that I v due and is seldom found on a farm, and bhab is a teat glass or percentage glass. Ib is a heavy glass tube, about ten inches tall and bwo in diameter, made thick so as nob to be easily broken, and with a broadh ase like a table goblet so as to nob overset easily, and marked on the side with a scale graduated to one hundredths so that each mark represents one per cent. By filling it with new milk you can see when the cream rises just what per cent, there is of ib. I have bad one for many years and bested scores of cows and found bhem bo vary from seven to twenty-five per cenb. These glasses cost one dollar and a half, and can be ordered, I think, through any druggist, as dealers in surgical supplies keep them. One other thing before I close. Every cow should be broken to lead. If taken when young they are as easy to break as colts, and ib is a great convenience and often saves hard running and perhaps bad temper. I would give five dollars more for a cow thoroughly broken to the halter than for one thab had nerer been tied up.