Tumbledown Farm .9 Acres (give or take an acre or two)

Excerpt: Thousands of calves and lambs are turned out to pas­ture in the spring, and are not housed again until fall, no protection being afforded against cold rain storms and violent showers. This re­sults in great suffering on the part of this young stock and a serious check to their growth oftentimes.

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Handy Devices For Stock

Leading the Bull Safely

Where a bull is kept on the farm great care must be taken that he has no chance to do anyone an injury. No chances should be taken. A rope attached to a ring in the nose serves as an extra hitching arrangement in the stall, but the bull should not be led by this alone. He can charge on the one lead­ing him at will. Put an extra ring in the rope near his nose and have a stick with a snap in the end, and then the bull can be led anywhere in safety, the rope and the stick being taken together in the hand.

Calf Weaner

Take an inch board and cut it the shape of the head of the calf or steer that sucks the cows; then take a piece one and a half by one and a half inches thick and eighteen to twenty inches in length and put two rows of sharp nails in it; then nail this piece to the narrow end of the board which comes over the calf's nose. Make a halter that fits the calf and nail it to the board, or if it has horns already take a lead-strap and nail it to the end of the board which will come around the calf's nose. Then bore two holes in the upper end of the board and put a rope in it and fasten it around the calf's horns.

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Shelter for Young Stock

Thousands of calves and lambs are turned out to pas­ture in the spring, and are not housed again until fall, no protection being afforded against cold rain storms and violent showers. This re­sults in great suffering on the part of this young stock and a serious check to their growth oftentimes. Trees afford a slight shelter in case of a passing shower, but for a steady rain they are worse than no shelter. Protection ought to be given, and this can be accomplished.

Safety with Bulls

The gentlest bull that ever lived should not be trusted. He may live to an old age, and do no harm; but he cannot be trusted with safety. It's born in him to be inclined to­ ward ugliness and treachery. Put big knobs on his horns-not the ordinary small ones, but such as are two inches in diameter. Put a ring in his nose, and never take him from his stanchion without fastening to this ring such a staff as is shown in the cut. With this he cannot get a way nor charge upon his keeper.

Dehorning Chute

A dehorning chute for cattle is easily made as shown. The upper cross-bar is four feet long and of 2 x 4. The levers, clamp-bars and lower cross-bars are of 2 x 4. The two heavy pieces are of 2 x 6. The positions of the clamp-bars and lever when the chute is open are shown by dotted lines. The clamp-bars are four inches apart at the base.

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Picketing the Calf

When no pasture can be provided for the calves, they can be picketed so as to have plenty of feed without too cumber­ some a rope, by having two picket pins joined by a smooth wire, to which by means of a swivel is attached the calf's rope so that it will slip on the wire. When new grass is necessary move the picket pins alternately. The length of the wire will determine the size of the grazing space.

A Revolving Tether

The calf that is hitched to a bar or stake in the field, is constantly getting "wound up." The cut shows a device--a block of wood and a long sharp­ened bolt or iron--that will obviate the trouble. The block, with rope at­tached, turns on the bolt as the calf moves. Other animals can be teth­ered in the same way, making the bolt longer and stouter as the size of the animal increases.

One More Tether

One of the best tether pins can be made of an old axle and the axle box that fits it from an old hub. The axle is cut off eighteen inches from the shoulder and sharpened to go into the ground easily. Then the box is sunk in a stout pole, ten to twenty feet long and a rope or light chain, with swivel, attached to this. An occasional oiling, the same as when the axle is serving on a wagon, will make it all the pleasanter to use. A washer be­tween the nut and axle box may be needed to prevent loss of the nut.

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Very Cheap Halter for Cows

Take twenty-two or twenty-three links of an old binder chain; pound them together so they will not come unhooked, to go over the head, and twelve or thirteen around the nose, with the hook sides of the links in­ side. To the lower end link of one side attach a rope or strap, with a snap in the other end, to snap to the lower link of the other side, to go under the jaw, and to this tie the halter rope or strap. Also brace the nose piece to keep it from sagging too low on the nose.

Drag for Tethering the Cow

The cut shows one of the very best ways to hitch a cow out to graze. Put a head halter upon her and tie the end of the rope to a bran sack in which several smooth, round stones are placed. Put in just enough weight so that the cow can drag it a few inches at a time, or if it is wished to keep the cow in one place put in enough stones to hold her in one place. The beauty of this arrangement is that there is nothing to wind the rope about, while if the cow gets a leg caught, or starts to run, there is no solid anchor to twitch the rope up suddenly and perhaps do injury to the cow.

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Tether

A very common method of tethering an animal is to set a crow-bar in the ground and tie a rope to it, when the tethered animal generally proceeds to wind the rope about the bar. Add a piece of iron gas-pipe or water-pipe and a bit of hard wood board for it to turn on, and you have a tethering device that cannot be improved. File the lower end of the gas-pipe smooth, so it will turn easily on the smooth board, and an animal cannot wind himself up to the bar.

Squeeze Gate for Treating Sick Stock

In a great many cases, animals suf­fer more from the excitement and ex­haustion of being caught and handled than from any ailment they may have. Young cattle are often chased until they are heated, then roped and thrown. Besides being detrimental to the ailing animals, this often puts them in an awkward position to work upon.

To get around the difficulty, squeeze gates are a great help. They are hinged to the front part of the stanchion, into which the animal is coaxed with feed, and swung around to prevent the ani­mal from jumping sidewise. The gates are especially valuable for milch cows, when treating cases of contagious abor­tion or infection of the genital pass­ages. Their use insures greater safety for the one who is treating an animal.

These squeeze gates can be put up in the barn, or attached to a fence

Collar for Self-Milker

The drawing shows a simple device to be applied to self-milking cows. Since it is not patented any of our readers are at liberty to use it. It is simply a necklace made from old broom or fork handles strung on a strap and buckled around the neck. It should be fitted to the cow and the sticks made long enough to keep her from putting her head on her side and not long enough to chafe the shoulders or throat when the head is not turned.

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