Читать книгу The American Reformed Cattle Doctor - George H. Dadd - Страница 8

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It is well known that the more cleanly and comfortable cattle are kept, and the better the order in which their food is presented to them, the better they will thrive, and the more profitable they will be to the owner. Dr. Gunthier remarks, that "constant confinement to the barn is opposed to the nature of oxen, and becomes the source of numberless diseases. Endeavors are made to promote the lacteal secretion in cows, and the fattening of oxen, by means of heat: for this purpose, stables [barns] are converted into real stoves, either by not making them sufficiently large, or by crowding them to excess, or by preventing the access of air from without; and all this without recollecting that the skin, thus over-excited, must necessarily fall into a state of atony in a short time. Besides, the moist heat and the emanations of the dung cannot fail to exercise a destructive influence on the lungs and entire system. To these causes if we add the absolute want of exercise and the excess of food, we shall not be surprised at the number of diseases resulting from these different practices, and at the extraordinary forms which they ofttimes assume.

"Persons propose to themselves, by feeding in the barn, to augment the mass of dung; and the beasts are left in their excrement, sometimes up to the very knees. Seldom is there any care taken to cleanse their skin, and still less attention is directed to the feet. What wonder, then, if they exhibit so many forms of disease?"

The byre recommended by Mr. Lawson consists of two apartments—an inner apartment, or byre for feeding the cattle, and an outer apartment, or barn for containing the fodder. The byre is constructed at right angles with the barn, as follows: "At the distance of about three feet and a half from the side of the building, within, there are constructed, on the ground, in a straight line, a trough, having ten partitions for feeding ten animals. The troughs are so constructed, that there is a small and gradual declivity from the first or innermost to the last or outermost one; and the partitions separating them being made with a small arch at the bottom, a bucket of water, poured in at the uppermost, runs out at the last one through a spout in the wall; and a sweep of the broom carries off the whole remains of the food, rendering all the troughs quite clean and sweet. The whole food of the cattle is thus kept perfectly clean at all times.

"In a line with the feeding troughs, and immediately over them, runs a strong beam of wood, from one end of the byre to the other; which is strengthened by two strong upright supporters to the roof, placed at equal distances from the ends of the byre; and the main beam is again subdivided by the cattle stakes and chains, so as to keep each of the ten oxen opposite to his own feeding trough and stall.

"The three and a half feet of space between the troughs and outer wall, lighted by a glazed window, is the cattle feeder's walk, who passes along it in front of the cattle, and, with a basket, deposits before each of the cattle the food into the feeding trough of each. To prevent any of the cattle from choking on small pieces of turnips, &c., as they are very apt to do, the chains at the stakes are contrived of such a length, that no ox can raise his head too high when eating; for in this way, it is observed, cattle are generally choked.

"At the distance of about six feet eight inches from the feeding troughs, and parallel to them, is a dung grove and urine gutter. Here too, like the trough, there is a gradual declivity; so that the moment the urine passes from the cattle, it runs to the lowest end of the gutter, whence it is conveyed through the outer wall, in a spout, and deposited in the urinarium outside of the building. At this place is a large enclosed space, occupied as a compost dung-court. Here all sorts of stuff are collected for increasing the manure, such as fat, earth, cleanings of roads, ditches, ponds, rotten vegetables, &c.; and the urine from the byre, being caused to run over all these collected together, which is done very easily by a couple of wooden spouts, moved backwards and forwards to the urinarium at pleasure, renders the whole mass, in a short time, a rich compost dunghill; and this is done by the urine alone, which, in general, is totally lost. The dung of the byre, again, is cleared several times each day, and deposited in the dung-court. Along the edge of the dung-court a few low sheds are constructed, in which swine are kept, and these consume the refuse of the food.

"In the side wall of the byre, and opposite to the heads of the cattle, are constructed three ventilators; these are placed at the distance of about two feet four inches from the ground, in the inside of the byre, and pass out just under the roof. The inside openings of these are about thirteen inches in length, seven in breadth, and nine in depth; and they serve two good purposes. The breath of cattle being superficially lighter than atmospheric air, the consequence is, that in some byres the cattle are kept in a constant heat and sweat, because their breath and heat have no way to escape; whereas, by means of the ventilators, the air of the barn is kept in proper circulation, which conduces as much to the health of the cattle as to the preservation of the walls and timber of the byre, by drying up the moisture produced from the breath and sweat of the cattle, which is found to injure those parts of the building."