Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 98, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 March 1912 — MOTES from MEADOWBROOK FARM [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MOTES from MEADOWBROOK FARM

By William Pitt

Be gentle with all animals. The farmer must have a horse. Examine the collars of your work horses often. With the Vetter poultry is coming better equipment. A heated chicken house is a h*d thing for poultry. The proper time to spray fruit trees is during the dormant season. ► Well-bred,, well-selected pigs, make more profit on the food eaten. A horse in order to keep in good condition should be well bedded every night. A machine in the shed is worth just about two machines left in the fence corner. The brood sows should have all the bright clover or alfalfa hay that they will eat. The cleaner the feed and feeding places, the better the quality of the pork in all. It is conducive to health to feed hogs when they can have the range of the pasture field. Those seeds, like the elm and soft maple, which ripen in May or June, belong to the “sooner” class. Never work a team of colts together until they are thoroughly broken, as they will worry each other. Filling up the neglected holes about the drinking tank is now in order. Fill them up now and avoid trouble. The man who calls improved stock “fancy stock" will have an account to settle with his Maker on the judgment day. Carry your good care of the ewes this fall as far as feeding plenty of nice bright oats to keep them in condition. <*> The old troughs will soon have to replace the fountain waterers or there may be a burst fountain some cold morning. After the strawberry bed has been set and cared for through the summer, it should be mulched through the winter. The milk should be strained through one thickness of clean white flannel and then should be quickly cooled and well aired. Wise turkey breeders will not breed from the same tom more than one year unless the same breeding hens are retained. No matter how highly bred and ftilly cultured a colt may be if it is not carefully trained and properly developed it loses its value. The first thing to do with the newlyborn lamb is to get it full of the ewe’s first milk, after which its chance for living is equal to that of the calf’s. For general or common use, cavstic or burnt lime or ground limestone are employed almost exclusively for the correction of soil abnormalities. Wetting the hoofs with a sponge and clean water every day, or simply dipping each foot into a pail of water, will keep the feet from becoming dry. If there are two kinds of roughness for the cows this winter it will be better to feed of both at the same time rather than to feed out one then start on the other. Look out for a collar that rubs a lap of flesh at every stride of the horse. It is liable to wear a gall on his neck, and much sooner sometimes than suspected. i ■ ’ The neck and shoulders of a horse are points that must not be overlooked when buying. A weak neck and a narrow breast do not go with the most desirable horse. During the Winter the dairy farmer has more time to figure out his plans for improving his system of farming. The great question should be to get a better and more profitable lot of cows. It would be easier to keep good men on the farm if the dairy farmers would keep better cows. A man appreciates tbe opportunity of handling good stock, and he realises that some responsibility is placed upon him if be knows that nothing btft -valttabKi and pnofltaNo cattle 'tee kept