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This is a calf muzzle, used to prevent calves from suckling to obtain milk. It consists of a leather collar with protruding metal spikes. It was used in the mid-nineteenth century on a farm near Newbury, West Berkshire.
Physical description
1 calf muzzle: leather, metal
Archival history
MERL 'Handwritten catalogue' form – 'CALF MUZZLE // See correspondence'Letter, L.K. Pritchard (The Borough Museum, Newbury) to C.A. Jewell (MERL), 22 October 1962 - 'Perhaps you would sent a line of acknowledgement to the donor, Miss Joan Hill... She was only able to tell us that her family had it for a long time and it was used on a local farm over a hundred years ago.'Letter, L.K. Pritchard (The Borough Museum, Newbury) to C.A. Jewell (MERL), 15 October 1962 - 'A farm appliance... has been brought in here and the donor says it was used about 100 years ago to prevent calves from obtaining milk.'
Mid-nineteenth century