LIVE STOCK
NEWS
BETTER CRATES ARE NEEDED
Many Breeding Animals Used in Im
proving Herds and Flocks Art
Not Properly Handled.
Very many of the breeding animals
used in Improving herds and flocks
are shipped from place to place In
.'grates. Good crates are easy to
handle, reduce shipping costs, and
save heavy losses.
Because shipping is often a source
of much loss and great annoyance, an
attempt has been made by the Wis
consin College of Agriculture, the
Forest Products laboratory and the
Wisconsin Live Stock Breeders' as
sociation, to* establish a standard type,
of live-stock crate that can be easily
and cheaply built. Practical tests
have been made and in every case
these standard crates withstood the
treatment encountered in actual ship
ping operations.
"Better Shipping Crates for Live
Stock," a free circular issued by the
College of Agriculture, Madison, not
only tells of the trials and tests but
also suggests how efficient crates may
be made.
Crates have been made for three
classes of live stock ? cattle, sheep
and hogs. The cattle crate will com
fortably accommo(fcite mature cows
of all breeds/ of dairy cattle. The
same proportions may be used in
building a larger crate to ?accommo
date animals of the beef breeds. Sim
ilarly. a smaller crate may be built on
,
Sheep Properly Crated for Transpor- j
tation.
* \
the same lines in which to ship anl
inals of the smaller dairy breeds.
The sheep crate is best made in
three sizes, designated as lamb, sheep
- sind buck. It is of prime importance
that the crate fit the animal.
Hogs, like sheep, require different
sized crates. A crate that is too
small may cause many blemishes
?which will ruin the animal from (he
breeder's viewpoint. A table of t lie
:sizes of crates, based upon the size
of the hog to he shipped, will aid
the shipper in avoiding waste and, at
the same time, provide the most com
fort.
i PUREBRED RAMS GAIN FAVOR
Thirty-Six Animals in One Kentucky
County Where Seven Years Ago '
There Was One.
Thirty-six purebred rams in a county
where only one was owned seven years .
ago, when the agricultural extension
agent first began his work there, is re
ported to the United States Depart
ment of Agriculture as the record in
Humphreys county, Teun. Twenty
' farmers in the county bought purebred
rams this season.
SELECT PIGS FOR BREEDERS
-Important to Choose Most Thrifty
and Growthy Females ? Deter
mines Size of Litter.
It Is just as necessary, or even
more so, to' select the most thrifty
and growthy sow pigs for breeders,
as it is to breed them to a choice
boar, for the fact that upon the thrift
and capacity of the sow will depend
to a large extent, not only the size
of the litter, but their food during
the suckling period.
PRODUCTION OF FEEDER PIPS
Business Growing Rapidly as Cholera
and Other Swine Diseases Are
Being Controlled.
As cholera and other diseases of
! swine are coming under control, the
business of producing feeder pigs is
growing. All feeder pigs should be
young and should show good breeding.
^ If such pigs are healthy they will
make rapid gains when placed in the
* feed lot.
Qood Mixture for Sows.
, A mixture of slacked lime and salt
.... should 'be kept before the sows at all
times and It Is also well to feed three
fourths of a pound of good quality al
falfa hay per sow daily, or one^thlrd
of a pound of tankage.
Feeding Raw Potatoes.
* Raw potatoes should not be fed to
live stock in too large quantities be
cause of the solanlne, whjch, if con
sumed too liberally, 1? to produce
-^rmful effects. T&to crystal# ine com
potto (j 1? lost f? ceoWo* \
\
mEF
POtNTS FOR SQUAB RAISERS
I C -:>r .%?,* \
Owners of Successful Plants Always
Find PJenty to Do in Winter in
Caring for Birds.
Managers of successful squab-rais
ing plants always find plenty to do In
winter taking care of their breeding
pigeons, seeing tliey are properly
muted, culled, housed and fed. If
large plump squabs are to be produced
next spring the breeding pigeons mus^
be kept in a good thrifty condition or
the percentage of hatch will be low.
The problem of growing a large strain
of squabs depends on the. kind of pi
geons you select to keep in the breed
ing pens. By culling out the small,
weak birds, with undesirable color of
skin and other such points and dispos
ing of the discarded ones the feed bill
will be greatly reduced.
The birds should be looked after
closely during the mating season. Odd
or umuated males must always be
moved from the breeding pens. Pi
geons are usually mated at the age of |
five or six months, and in some cases j
they are not mated until they are j
eight or nine months old.
With the increasing demand for
plmnp squabs many of the squab
raising plant owners have been labor
, . j j
J
A Blue Checker, Another Coming Type
of Homer.
ing to set larger pigeons. The Mal
tese, the Wing King, the Oorneiya,
the Runt, and the Mondaine have been
extensively produced in some see- i
tious. Many of the old-lime squab- !
raisers cling to the Homer. It is
hardy, prolific, a hearty eater, and
raises a high percentage of squabs.
The pigeon house should be cleaned j
once a month or oftener. and then j
sprayed with some of the preparations
that are used to kill lice.
EPSOM SALTS CHEAP REMEDY
Useful to Keep on Hand to Tone Up :
Poultry Flock That Has Access
to Spoiled Feed.
Epsom salts is a cheap remedy to j
?keep on hand to help in toning up a
poultry llock that has had access to. ;
spoiled feed. The occasional use of j
the salts is to help in reducing losses
from sour crop or indigestion due to
overfeeding. A hen that has been crop
bound i r benefited by epsom salts.
The usual dose is half a teaspoonful j
for a mature hen. . The salts can be j
dissolved in warm water and poured j
down the throat of the bird. Then you j
know the hen has received the dose, i
I
She may not. eat enough of a mash I
% I
containing the salts. A flock can be |
allowed to go hungry about half a day !
followed by a moist mash containing
epsom salts for every bird.
Disinfectants are cheaper than dis
ease.
* * *
Fowls In confinement, to do well,
need a variety of food.
? ? ?
Crowding induces di^pase and low
ers the vitality of fowls.
? * ?
A breeding pen is usually made up
of from six to fourteen females and a
male.
? ? ?
A stewing chicken weighs about
three pounds and a rooster four or
more pounds.
? ? *
Nests should not be too deep or the
hens jump down on the eggs and
break them.
? * *
When a chicken weighs between two
and three pounds It Is called a spring
chicken.
? ? ?
A setting of eggs is usually counted
at twelve, although many poultrymen
give fifteen eggs.
? * *
A broiler Is a bird weighing two
pounds or less and which is six to
twelve weeks old.
/ ? ? ?
A poularde is a pullet deprived of
the power of producing eggs, with the
ob;ect of great size.
? * ?
There seems to be n value to feed
ing milk that cannot be expressed
easily In ca?h. It has the vitamlnes
which produce growth and vigor.
? * ?
*
Breeding stock that have milk in
their ration seem to produce more
hatchable eggs than hens which get
all their protein through beef scrip or
Ash scrap.
- V
SERGEANT STARLING SPEAKS
I
"Now Starling Sfsters and Broth
irs and Cousins, listen to what I have
to say," said Sergeant Starling. "Gen
eral Sparrow told his family the other
day to be sure that they didn't let us
get ahead of them. They want to be
the worst fighters and the worst birds.
But, ah, they're going to be second
worst for all of that. We will get the
better of them. In the long run we
always have."
Sergeant Starling closed his long
yellow bill, gave a funy jerk to his
short call and raised his long black
and green wings.
"We're better looking than they are,"
he continued. "We have purples and
green in our glossy black feathers,
and our ladies wear white spots as
their own fashion. And we're a good
deal larger than they are. We, too,
will eat anything, we will stand any
climate. Little starlings pop out of
the eggs In sixes and sevens every
four or five months. That Is splendid,
for it moans that so many little star
lings are constantly coming Into the
world.
"Some people say they cannot make
up their minds whet/ier we do more
harm than good. And when I say
'some people' I mean people Who make
a study of birds.
"There are people who make a study
of birds, who talk about birds and
lecture about birds, and who know all
we do. They watch us and find us
Interesting.
"I don't blame thein In the least. I
should think people would like to
study birds, and how we nest and how
\ye act and what we eat and how \ve
chirp or sing and what we do In the;
winter time.
?'There are so many different kinds
of birds and we do such different
tilings.
"It is as interesting in the Bird fam
ily as it is among people. There are |
lots of different sorts who do different
things In different ways.
?As I've said, these people who know
all about birds haven't made up their
minds whether we're of more use to
them or of more harm, io them ? in the
work we do I mean. } I suppose they
will decide It for themselves one of
these days, f*1
"But in the meantime we've plenty
to do In seeing that we run matters
in our own way. A great help to
us is the fact that there are so many
of us.
"With all the little starlings coming
out of the eggs we train them to be
good starling children and there are
huge colonies of starlings almost every
where now.
"Just think I Six little starlings at
A time and. too, the mother starlings
watch over three brood;# a year? or at
the least two.
"People have not decided whether
they like us or not as I've told you.
But no matter, we're a clever lot. We
can whistle so that we sound like peo
ple and they'll turn around to see
who was whistling. How that does
make us laugh I And then we gurgle
and they wonder what sort of a sound
that is. We warble, too. We're smart."
Sergeant Starling raised his head
high. "So with our cleverness and our
fine powers of winning any good scrap
If we're given a long enough time ?
we will win over the sparrows. And tf
we're not given a long enough time,
we can always take a long enough
time."
As the Sergeant was talking along
rushed Fire Chief Starling. He had
been so named because he had always
said that should there be a fire he
would /remember that he was the
chtef one to be saved.
"Starlings," he cried, "the sparrows
who built their nest under one of the
eaves of a house, had an accident to
their nest. T h#/ had all left the nest
some time before but It had become
very dry and a spark from a bonfire
lKlow went up and caught fire and
almost made a big flta in the people's
house."
"Gracious!" said Sergeant Starling,
"you bring important news, Fire Chief.
We must build a nest under some eaves
and then leave It to dry so it may
some day help start a fire."
"Let us not allow the Sparrows to
get ahead of us," the Starlings all
shouted. "Let us take from them their
right to i)oast of being the worst. Tht
second worst for them I"
Sky Lying on Ground,
one foggy morning little Edgar
looked out of the yrlndow and ex
claimed, ".Oh, look, mamma, the sky is
lying on the ground T
% <* -it
* -Z*- *
Nothing Doing
f Copyright, W. N. U.)
Hearken to the Frivolous Boss
Oh, You Cheater, Felix
lil'vE RUN VOUR e>An-<-GO OH IIS ThE Vj/j/h
AMD TAKE IT - VOU HAVEN'T HAD ONE ^
fop i HTmKSn bath?
& 3 1 T*o Too DARN COLD THIS
> MOPNIN^
HURR^ UP NQWJ AND
GET IN THERE *?Z
unlock: this door.
Till you're thru
&
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11
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OK Bay? A 6AWTH
t>uRE. DO Make ONE
F6E.I Gt??AT t
NOW AREN'l" X>0
Clad i- made fou
"TAk? it ?
jP 'Wtltm' Wr<rtp*Mr Un 10^