Farm Animals

Farm Animals. Vital to ranch operations and family life. Before electric and gas-powered machinery, strong animals such as draft horses and oxen were used to clear and plow fields, pull wagons and turn mills. Ranchers kept a variety of other animals to provide the family with food, leather, wool and fat. Animal fat was used for cooking and making soap., Inset Image: , Jesusita Bernal feeding chickens , Courtesy California Room San Jose Public Library, Every animal had a purpose. Cows supplied meat, milk, cheese and butter. Chickens and turkeys were a source of meat, eggs, and feathers for stuffing quilts and pillows. The fleece of sheep was cut, cleaned, combed and spun into yarn for clothing and blankets. Even cats and dogs had jobs around the ranch. Cats killed mice and rats, which ate and soiled grain stored for livestock and the family to eat. Dogs herded livestock and guarded the barnyard at night, protecting domestic animals from hungry wild predators., Inset Image: , Horse-drawn plow , Courtesy California History Center Foundation, De Anza College, Cupertino, CA, Hauling hay crops through the Santa Teresa Hills by horse team , Courtesy Patrick Joice, If you were a ten year old on this ranch in 1900, your chores would be….. , ✓ Feed and water animals , ✓ Milk the cow , ✓ Brush horses , ✓ Collect eggs from chicken coop , ✓ Pluck chicken for dinner