TREATMENT OF CATTLE BY RAIL

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2538, 16 October 1888, Page 3

TREATMENT OF CATTLE BY RAIL

TO THK KDITOII. —X much regret that the colums of The W.UKATO Times should be u-ed by every busybody who may fuel it bis privilege to instruct tiie farmer as to Ins duty toward his stuck. A must glaring instance occurred in your ifsuo of Thursday last, in which .a farmer, f"r tying a bullock's head by the horns to tho top rail o' the tiuck in such a manner that the beast could put its head in a natural position if it chose, is characterised an a most brutal act. I may inform your correspondent that this was believed by myself and two other farmers who were present to be an act of humanity. Vive weeks before this, a bullock was loaded for Auckland, and he tried in the truck to stand on bis head instead of his legs, and when persuasion was tru'd to convince bitn of bis error be. laid down iu the truck, ami would have been trampled to death if the truck bad not been unloaded, whereby I saved the bullock and missed one of the best markets of the season for that truck of cattle. Thinking this beast might sulk again, 1 bad him left until the last bullock to go in tho truck, and had picked seven small bullocks to give him as much room as possible, but as soon as there was the least pressure on him he showed an inclination to go down, and a. rope was suggested as a means of preventing his getting down which the sequel proved was correct, for my son was in Auckland and saw the bullock sold, and of my sixteen, he was tho freshest of the lot, not a hair ofr liiiu. I presume your correspondent would have thought of it if this beast had gone down and been trampled to death, but because I take precautionary measures to prevent this, lam called a brute. I have been sending fat stock to Auckland for the past twenty years, anil could guarantee, when driven down, that there was not a whip mark on a beast, and since the railway has taken the cuttle I have lost one bullock only, and have never heard a complaint of my cattle being bruised. 1 have always made it iny chief aim to get my cattle to market with the least possible abuse but, Sir, with all tho experience I have had, if your correspondent will como and "ive mo a lesson how to get cattle into the present trucks without tho possibility of bruisiii? a beast, T will guarantee him one of the largest gatherings of farmers over seen at tho Cambridge station at any one time since the line has been open. I am, sir, yours obediently, Geo. h. Clark.