UNKNOWN

Clutha Leader, Volume XXXIX, Issue 34, 29 November 1912, Page 8

UNKNOWN

J«wtf ejajsej, a hint whicjitoiay be valuable to treed- , ers who ex|ibiij at the various shows. E«f erring $ the cattle he had had to handle, he remarked that fat nojfioed that a number of them had app**ently . never had a halter on them. It was a great mistake le* any man to take a beast jftto. ».\ahomJßg ustg i*. would lead properly. In his judging he had had to pail beasts over because they ' would neither stand nor lead. In pens of two, also, it was often found that there was one very good beast and one plain one. He thought breeders should try and get two beasts as even as possible. As things stood, it was wasting one good beast in putting alongside it - one that was not first-class. SHOW JUMPING WMPEHTIONS. During the course of the Feilding Show Mr C. T. Jefferson, of Wanganui, threw out a suggestion to improve the high leaping competitions. The customary big spar in use -was % frequent cause of injury to (horses, which hurt their knees and legs by striking the bar. At the' Feikung Show he had seen, one competitor bump its knee, and when these bumps were received tney would not go down and often remained with a horse for an time. What was wanted was that the cross bar should be padded in some. way.

TELLING A HORSE'S AGE. As the horse itself cannot tell a li 3, the best way to determine its age is to apply the following from the ifiagiisn 'Agricultural Gazette' to the problem: ihe mouth of a grown horse should have 40 teeth, 12 of whioh—six . above and six below—are incisors, oi nippers. It is by the incisors -hat the -, age is determined. The order in which _ these appear is the important feature ■r up to theSige of five; tnen the manner ( in which they are worn determines the age up to eight yoars old. After this it is difficult to .tell the exact age by the teeth. '**■ At about two years and nine months the two central temporary incisors above and below make way for tjlie central permanent incisors. These are full grown by the time the horse is three years old. The intermediate permanent nippers appear at about four years and nine months, and are grown at the age of five. At this time the horse is said to hare a full mouth. At six years old the cups in the central incisors of the lower jaws have ' almost disappeared, the cups m the intermediates have become smaller, and the corner teeth are well up and in full wear on their entire -suriace. At seven the cups have disappeared from the corner incisors of the lower jaw. It will oe noticed that the cups have remained in the teeth of the upper jaw longer than in the lower. ine cups in tne central incisors of ! the upper jaw disappear at the age of nine, trom the intermediates at 1U from, the corners at 11. By tins time the inner surface of the teetih, on account of growth and wear, have changed from almost a flat surface to a somewhat circular form, and from this age on they continue to change until they become almost triangular in shape. In the mouth of a young horse the upper and lower teeth meet in almost vertical lines forming a straight angle. As age increases the angle decreases, so that by the time the horse is 20 they meet at an angle of about 45 degrees. After the age of eight other features have to be taken into account, and the. trained eye usually gets a correct estimate. Age of a Horse hi Rhyme. To tell the age of any horse, Inspect the lower jaw, of course. The six front teeth the tale will tell, And every doubt and fear dispel. Two middle "nippers" you behold Before the colt is two. weeks old. Before eight weeks two more will come; Eight months, the "corners" cut the gum. Two outside grooves will disappear From middle two in just one year. In two years from second pair, In three, the corners, too, are bare. At two, the middle "nippers' 'drop; At three, the second pair can't stop. When four years old the third pair goes, At five a full new set he shows. The deep black spots will pass from view At six years from the the middle two. The second pair at seven years; At eight the spot each "corner" clears. From middle "nippers" under jaw, At nine the black spots will withdraw, The second pair at 10 are white; Eleven finds the "corners" light. As tLge goes on|-the horsemen know The oval teeth three-sided grow; . They longer get, project before, Till 20, when we know no more. There is only one way to develop a dairy cow, apart from feeding her, and that is to milk her, and there is no way that a good dairy cow will be ruined quicker than by letting her raise her calf. There are a few stud breeders of dairy cattle here who do not milk their cows, but they might as well go out of business as to try to develop the dairy qualities of their cows when they let them nurse their calves. The best method of preserving eggs is with water-glass (silicate of soda). Dissolve one part by measure of this in 10 parts of water that has previously been well boiled, and then cooled down. The eggs may be put in clean kerosene tins and the solution poured over them, or the eggs put in the solution daily as gathered. If they float, reduce the density of the preservative by adding more boiled water. The eggs should be fresh, clean and infertile.