THE HOUSE COLLAR.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3140, 23 October 1922, Page 8

THE HOUSE COLLAR.

The farmer knows how uncomfortable ho would be in another man’s boots, but sometimes does not realise that it is just as necessary for the farm horse to have his own collar. More than that, ns the man’s boots need to fit. so does the horse’s collar. The collar should fit close to the neck, and! should not he loose in some places’ and tight in others. If the collar is very stiff, and does not conform to the shape of the house's neck and shoulders, it can often be remedied by placing it in water overnight, after which it is put on the horse and drawn to the shape required, and the horse worked at light work through the day. This will cause the collar to become adjusted to all the peculiar inequalities of shoulder and neck. Unless a horse is fitted with a comfortable collar |io is unable to work properly and draw bis loads. The essential points in fitting a collar are: That it does not rest on the neck in front of the withers; that it bears evenly over the shoulder blades ; that the space between the inside of the body of the collar and the neck will admit the finger and nothing more; that the depth between the throat and neck will admit the hand and wrist. FEED OR NOT? A subscriber put a strange query to an agricultural paper recently. Ho said; “1 want to buy a. bull. Should' I buy one from a herd that is heavily fed, or from one that is not fed? I do not feed my own herd, and I do not want to raise cattle with big appetites.” Tins’ looks like the query of a. man who says to a contractor: “Build me a dam. 1 want as much water ns 1 can get. but don’t build it too’ big, because, if you do. it will take too much water to fill it.” A cow can produce only as she is led. If she haw dairy iuheritago, she will make profitable use of all feed given to her up to a point. Any food short of the adequate quantity will mean a oorresponding shortage in her yield ol milk. The aim should be to have cows of large -appetites' that can make profitable" use of large quantities of feed—and then give them the feed. The idea of deliberately breeding cows of small appetite is the wrong idea. CLIPPING HORSES The late Professor Williams, in his “Principles' and Practice of Veterinary Surgery,” says': —“With reference to the clipping of horses, 1 am of opinion that it is a great advantage; they work better after being clipped, thrive on less food, are less liable to disease, are stronger, healthier and more cheerful, and when sick recover in a much: shorter time.” Youiatt refers to clipping asi a powerful tonic to the animal suffering from the debility, depression of spirits and temporary loss ol appetite associated with growing the winter coat, adding :- —“We may not perhaps be able satisfactorily to explain the apparently magical effects of clipping and singeing on flic general constitution, and particularly on the wind of the boriso or (be respiratory functions generally, but there is no doubt of their existence.” SKIMMINtoS. What is stated io he a record shipment in dairy produce for Montreal left one day when a single vessel carried away a cargo consisting of 55,351 packages of butter. ’J lie total weight of the cargo was approximately 3,600,(MJO pounds and was valued at about 0230,000. “It might surprise you to know that if every cow was tested you might have a very high percentage of tubercular cows; and yet yon take the utmost care when operating on a child for tuberculosis to prevent infection” said the Hon. Dr Collins, at the “Health Week” in Wellington. “What do yon think of this?” said a well-known fanner of the district to a. representative of the King Country Chronicle, showing a cheque lor £l2 7s Id. “I think quite a lot of it,” was llto reply. “7s it for, the hospital or the soldiers’ memorial?” The owner slowly folded up tho cheque, and putting it iu his pocket, replied: “No; 1 think I will want it for myself. Tin's is tho balance owing to mo after consigning two truck loads of cattle to England 18 months ago. After paying freight, freezing charges, and other expenses I have tin's amount to my credit. I could have bad £l5O for these cattle if I had sold them locally at tho time.” That a police constable may know something of the fine points of cattle as well as of the working of the law was illustrated in the Magistrate’s Court at. Ashburton. An elderly man who was charged with allowing cattle to wander stated that a constable came up to him at his gate and started a conversation about some of the defendant’s cattle which wore grazing on the roadside (states the (Juard'ian). “He yarned there for about an hour,” said the defendant in a complaining voice,” and from the way he talked I thought ho was a cattlo dealer: he knew so much about them. But he was only a humbug after all,” he concluded, amidst laughter.