In respect of cattle kept for all these purposes, which it is customary to feed in the barn yard, it should be added that you should keep as many and only as many as you need for carrying on the work of the farm, so that more easily you can secure diligent care of them from the servants whose chief care is of themselves.  In this connection the keeping of sheep is preferable to hogs not only by those who have pastures but also by those who have none, for you should keep them not merely because you have pasture, but for the sake of the manure.

Watch dogs should be kept in any event for the safety of the farm.

XX.  The most important consideration with respect to barn yard cattle is that the draft oxen should be fit for their work:  when bought unbroken they should not be less than three years old nor more than four, strong, but well matched, lest the stronger wear out the weaker:  with large horns, black rather than any other color, broad foreheads, flat noses, deep chests and heavy quarters.  Old steers which have worked in the plains cannot be trained to service in rough and mountain land; a rule as applicable when reversed.  In breaking young steers it is best to begin by fastening a fork shaped yoke on their necks and leaving it there even when they are fed; in a few days they will become used to it and disposed to be docile.  Then they should be broken to work gradually until they are accustomed to it, as may be done by yoking a young ox with an old one, so that he may learn what is expected of him by imitation.  It is best to work them first on level ground without a plough, then with a light plough, so that their first lessons may be easy and in sand and mellow soil.

Oxen intended for the wagon should be broken in the same way, at first by drawing an empty cart, if possible through the streets of a village or a town, where they may become quickly inured to sudden noises and strange sights.  You should not work an ox always on the same side of the team, for an occasional change from right to left relieves the strain of the work.

Where the land is light, as in Campania, they do not plough with heavy steers but with cows or asses, as they can be driven more easily to a light plough.  For turning the mill and for carrying about the farm some use asses, some cows and others mules:  a choice determined by the supply of provender.  For an ass is cheaper to feed than a cow, though a cow is more profitable.[80]

In the choice of the kind of draft animals he is to keep, a farmer should always take into consideration the characteristics of his soil:  thus on rocky and difficult land the prime requirement is doubtless strength, but his purpose should be to keep that kind of stock which under his conditions yields the largest measure of profit and still do all the necessary work.

Of watch dogs

XXI.  It is more desirable to keep a few dogs and fierce ones than a pack of curs.  They should be trained to watch by night and to sleep by day chained in the kennel [so that they may be the more alert when set loose.]