Domestic Animals Part 1

Domestic Animals.

by Richard L. Allen.

INTRODUCTION.

The object of the following work, on the History, Breeding, Management, Diseases, &c., of Domestic Animals, is to afford the Stock-breeder and Grazier a connected view of the entire subject in which he has so deep an interest. The writer has endeavored to compress within the limited s.p.a.ce a.s.sumed as necessary to secure a general circulation and perusal, such principles and practice, and give to each that relative prominence, which it becomes the practical man to observe, to realize the greatest amount of value for the labor and capital devoted to his pursuits.

Their history is essential, as it shows their introduction into the United States, their progress during the various stages of their improvement, and the comparative value of the improved and ordinary breeds. A knowledge of the best mode of breeding and management is of still higher importance. The first will enable the breeder to preserve the high character of the animals in his hands, or perhaps still farther to advance them; while proper management and feeding will prevent that deterioration and loss from disease, which frequently subtract so much from his profits.

A larger s.p.a.ce has been purposely devoted to the last topics, in preference to the subject of diseases, as prevention is not only less troublesome than cure, but much more economical. Feeding and management, after breeding, are really the important objects in view to the Stock-breeder and Grazier, for if these be judiciously attended to, disease among the herds will rarely be known.

The subject of animal diseases is complicated and little understood; and to be properly comprehended, requires years close, intelligent study, under every advantage for obtaining the necessary information. Nearly every disorder a.s.sumes various shades of difference, and to remove it effectually a corresponding change of treatment is required. How absurd then the idea, that a compilation of formal remedies, administered by an unskilful or inexperienced manager, will be of material service in rescuing his herds or flocks from the ravages of disease. All that can consistently be done, is to give a few simple remedies for the most common and well-known ailments, and leave to nature or a professional farrier, such as are more complex or unusual.

This work (with many subsequent and important additions) const.i.tutes a small part of the "Compend of American Agriculture," the favorable reception of which, though but recently given to the public, has induced the writer to offer this important division of the subject in its present detached form.

New York, November, 1847

DOMESTIC ANIMALS.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS--GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING, NUTRITION, MANAGEMENT, &c.

The princ.i.p.al domestic animals reared for economical purposes in the United States, are Horned or neat cattle, the Horse, the Mule, Sheep, and Swine. A few a.s.ses are bred, but for no other object than to keep up the supply of jacks for propagating mules. We have also goats, rabbits, and the house domestics, the dog and cat; the two former, only in very limited numbers, but both the latter much beyond our legitimate wants.

There have been a few specimens of the Alpaca imported, and an arrangement is now in progress for the introduction of a flock of several hundred, which, if distributed among intelligent and wealthy agriculturists, as proposed, will test their value for increasing our agricultural resources. We shall confine ourselves to some general considerations, connected with the first-mentioned and most important of our domestic animals.

Their number as shown by the agricultural statistics collected in 1839, by order of our General Government, was 15,000,000 neat cattle; 4,335,000 horses and mules, (the number of each not being specified;) 19,311,000 sheep; and 26,300,000 swine. There is much reason to question the entire accuracy of these returns, yet there is doubtless an approximation to the truth. Sheep have greatly increased since that period, and would probably number, the present year, (1848,) not less than 30,000,000; and if our own manufactures continue to thrive, and we should moreover become wool exporters, of which there is now a reasonable prospect, an accurate return for 1850, will undoubtedly give us not less than 33,000,000 for the entire Union. There has been a great increase in the value of the other animals enumerated, but not in a ratio corresponding with that of sheep. This is not only manifest in their augmented numbers, but in the gradual and steady improvement of the species.

It may be safely predicted, that this improvement will not only be sustained, but largely increased; for there are some intelligent and spirited breeders to be found in every section of the country, whose liberal exertions and successful examples are doing much for this object. Wherever intelligence and sound judgment are to be found, it will be impossible long to resist the effects of a comparison between animals, which, on an equal quant.i.ty of the same food, with the same attention and in the same time, will return 50, 20, or even 10 per cent.

more in their intrinsic value or marketable product, than the ordinary cla.s.s. This improvement has been, relatively, most conspicuous in the Western and Southern states; not that the present average of excellence in their animals surpa.s.ses, or even reaches that of the North and East; but the latter have long been pursuing this object, with more or less energy, and they have for many years had large numbers of excellent specimens of each variety; while with few exceptions, if we exclude the blood-horse or racing nag, the former have, till recently, paid comparatively little attention to the improvement of their domestic animals. The spirit for improvement through extensive sections, is now awakened, and the older settled portions of the country may hereafter expect compet.i.tors, whose success will be fully commensurate with their own. Before going into the management of the different varieties, we will give some general principles and remarks applicable to the treatment of all.

_The purpose for which animals are required_, should be first determined, before selecting such as may be necessary either for breeding or use. Throughout the Northeastern states, cows for the dairy, oxen for the yoke, and both for the butcher, are wanted. In much of the West and South, beef alone is the princ.i.p.al object; while the dairy is neglected, and the work of the ox is seldom relied on, except for occasional drudgery.

Sheep may be wanted almost exclusively for the fleece, or for the fleece and heavy mutton, or in the neighborhood of markets, for large early lambs. The pastures and winter food, climate, and other conditions, present additional circ.u.mstances, which should be well considered before determining on the particular breed, either of cattle or sheep, that will best promote the interest of the farmer.

The kind of work for which the horse may be wanted, whether as a roadster, for the saddle, as a heavy team horse, or the horse of all work, must be first decided, before selecting the form or character of the animal.

The range of pig excellence is more circ.u.mscribed, as it is only necessary to breed such as will yield the greatest amount of valuable carca.s.s, within the shortest time, and with the least expense.

PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING.

All breeding is founded on the principle, that _like begets like_. This is, however, liable to some exceptions, and is much more generally true when _breeding down_ than when _breeding up_. If two animals (which can never be exactly similar in all respects) are requisite to the perpetuation of the species, it necessarily results, that the progeny must differ in a more or less degree from each parent. With wild animals, and such of the domestic as are allowed to propagate without the interference of art, and whose habits, treatment, and food are nearly similar to their natural condition, the change through successive generations is scarcely perceptible. It is only when we attempt to improve their good qualities, that it is essential carefully to determine, and rigidly to apply, what are adopted as the present scientific principles of breeding. We cannot believe that we have penetrated beyond the mere threshold of this art. Unless, then, we launch into experiments, which are necessarily attended with uncertainty, our duty will be, to take for our guide the most successful practice of modern times, until further discoveries enable us to modify or add to such as are already known and adopted. We may a.s.sume, then, as the present rules for this art,

1st. That the animals selected for breed, should unite in themselves all the good qualities we wish to perpetuate in the offspring.

2d. These qualities, technically called _points_, should be inbred in the animals as far as practicable, by a long line of descent from parents similarly const.i.tuted. The necessity for this rule is evident from the fact, that in mixing different species, and especially mongrels, with a long-established breed, the latter will most strongly stamp the issue with its own peculiarities. This is forcibly ill.u.s.trated in the case of the Devon cattle, an ancient race, whose color, form, and characteristics are strikingly perpetuated, sometimes to the sixth or even a later generation. So far is this principle carried by many experienced breeders, that they will use an animal of indifferent external appearance, but of approved descent, (_blood_,) in preference to a decidedly superior one, whose pedigree is imperfect.

3d. All the conditions of soil, situation, climate, treatment, and food, should be favorable to the object sought.

4th. As a general rule, the female should be relatively larger than the male. This gives ample room for the perfect development of the f[oe]tus, easy parturition, and a large supply of milk for the offspring, at a period in its existence, when food has a greater influence in perfecting character and form, than at any subsequent time.

5th. Exceptions to this rule may be made, when greater size is required than can be obtained from the female, and especially when more vigor and hardiness of const.i.tution are desirable. For this purpose, strong masculine development in the sire is proper, and if otherwise unattainable, something of coa.r.s.eness may be admitted, as this may be afterwards corrected, and nothing will atone for want of const.i.tution and strength.

6th. Pairing should be with a strict reference to correcting the imperfections of one animal, by a corresponding excellence in the other.

7th. _Breeding in-and-in_, or propagating from animals nearly allied, may be tolerated under certain circ.u.mstances, though seldom; and only in extreme cases between those of the same generation, as brother and sister. When the animal possesses much stamina and peculiar merit, which it is desired to perpetuate in the breed, it may be done either in the ascending or descending line, as in breeding the son to the parent, or the parent to his own progeny. This has been practised with decided advantage, and in some cases has even been continued successively, as low as the sixth generation.

8th. It is always better to avoid close relationship, by the selection of equally meritorious stock-getters of the same breed, from other sources.

9th. Wholesome, nutritious food, at all times sufficient to keep the animals steadily advancing, should be provided, but they must never be allowed to get fat. Of the two evils, starving is preferable to surfeit.

Careful treatment, and the absence of disease, must be always fully considered.

10th. Animals should never be allowed to breed either too early or too late in life. These periods cannot be arbitrarily laid down, but must depend on their time of maturity, the longevity of the breed, and the stamina of the individual.

11th. No violent cross, or mixing of distinct breeds, should ever be admitted for the purposes of perpetuation, as of cattle of diverse sizes; horses of unlike characters; the Merino and the long-wools, or even the long, or short, and the middle-wools. For carca.s.s and const.i.tution, these crosses are unexceptionable; and it is a practice very common in this country, and judicious enough where the whole produce is early destined for the shambles. But when the progeny are designed for breeders, the practice should be branded with unqualified reprehension.

GENERAL FORM AND CHARACTERISTICS.

Within certain limits, these may be reduced to a common standard. All animals should have a good head, well set up; a clean fine muzzle, and a blight, clear and full, yet perfectly placid eye. With the exception of the dog and cat, whose original nature is ferocity, and whose whole life, unless diverted from their natural instincts, is plunder and prey; and the jockey racehorse, which is required to take the purse, at any hazard of life or limb to the groom; a mild, quiet eye is indispensable to the profitable use of the domestic brute. The neck should be well formed, not too long, tapering to its junction with the head, and gradually enlarging to a firm, well-expanded attachment to the back, shoulders, and breast. The back or chine should be short, straight, and broad; the ribs springing out from the backbone nearly at right angles, giving a rounded appearance to the carca.s.s, and reaching well behind to a close proximity to the hip; tail well set on, and full at its junction with the body, yet gradually tapering to fineness; thighs, fore-arms, and crops well developed; projecting breast or brisket; the fore-legs straight, and hind ones properly bent, strong and full where attached to the carca.s.s, but small and tapering below; good and sound joints; dense, strong bones, but not large; plenty of fine muscle in the right places; and hair or wool, fine and soft. The chest in all animals should be full, for it will be invariably found, that only such will do the most work, or fatten easiest on the least food.

The Lungs.

From the last-mentioned principle, founded on long experience and observation, Cline inferred, and he has laid it down as an incontrovertible position, that the lungs should always be large; and Youatt expresses the same opinion. This is undoubtedly correct as to working beasts, the horse and the ox, which require full and free respiration, to enable them to sustain great muscular efforts. But later physiologists have a.s.sumed, perhaps from closer and more accurate observations, that the fattening propensity is in the ratio of the smallness of the lungs. Earl Spencer has observed, that this is fully shown in the pig, the sheep, the ox, and the horse, whose apt.i.tude to fatten and smallness of lungs, are in the order enumerated.

This position is further ill.u.s.trated by the different breeds of the same cla.s.ses of animals. The Leicester sheep have smaller lungs than the South Down; and it has been found, that a number of the former, on a given quant.i.ty of food, and in the same time, reached 28 lbs. a quarter, while the South Downs with a greater consumption of food, attained in the same period, only 18 lbs. The Chinese pigs have much smaller lungs than the Irish, and the former will fatten to a given weight, on a much less quant.i.ty of food than the latter. (_Playfair._) The principle would seem to be corroborated by the fact, that animals generally fatten faster in proportion to the quant.i.ty of food they consume, as they advance towards a certain stage of maturity; during all which time, the secretion of internal fat is gradually compressing the size, by reducing the room for the action of the lungs. Hence, the advantage of carrying the fattening beast to an advanced point, by which not only the quality of carca.s.s is improved, but the quant.i.ty is relatively greater for the amount of food consumed. These views are intimately connected, and fully correspond, with the principles of

RESPIRATION IN ANIMALS.

From careful experiments, it has been found that all animals daily consume a much larger quant.i.ty of food than the aggregate of what may have been retained in the system, added to what has been expelled in the f[oe]ces and urine, and what has escaped by perspiration. Boussingault, who combines the characteristics of an ingenious chemist, a vigilant observer, and a practical agriculturist, made an experiment with a "milch-cow and a full-grown horse, which were placed in stalls so contrived that the droppings and the urine could be collected without loss. Before being made the subjects of experiment, the animals were ballasted or fed for a month with the same ration that was furnished to them, during the three days and three nights which they pa.s.sed in the experimental stalls. During the month, the weight of the animals did not vary sensibly, a circ.u.mstance which happily enables us to a.s.sume that neither did the weight vary during the seventy-two hours when they were under especial observation.

The cow was foddered with after-math, hay, and potatoes; the horse with the same hay and oats. The quant.i.ties of forage were accurately weighed, and their precise degree of moistness and their composition were determined from average samples. The water drunk was measured, its saline and earthy const.i.tuents having been previously ascertained. The excrement.i.tious matters pa.s.sed, were of course collected with the greatest care; the excrements, the urine, and the milk were weighed, and the const.i.tution of the whole estimated from elementary a.n.a.lyses of average specimens of each. The results of the two experiments are given in the table on the next page.

The oxygen and hydrogen that are not accounted for in the sum of the products have not disappeared in the precise proportions requisite to form water; the excess of hydrogen amounts to as many as from 13 to 15 dwts. It is probable that this hydrogen of the food became changed into water by combining during respiration with the oxygen of the air."