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This calf muzzle came from Banbury, Oxfordshire. It consists of 15 nail like spikes penetrating outwards through a leather strap.

1 Calf collar: metal (wrought iron)

Letter, Donor to Mr Higgs, 23 October 1952 - '... I am afraid I cannot tell you a lot about the objects I brought in, except that they all were picked up in the vicinity of Buckingham or Aylesbury. ...', Object research project, Megan Cristo, April 2019 – ‘This object is a wrought iron calf collar with 15 spikes penetrating outwards through a leather strap. The muzzle measure 26.75 inches in length and 1.2 inches in width and the spikes are 2.6 inches long. Calf muzzles such as this would have been used by farmers to wean calves off their mother’s milk, preserving it for human consumption. This particular muzzle came from Banbury in Oxfordshire. Dairy farmers use calf collars to prevent calves from suckling and obtaining milk from their mother. The spikes on this calf collar were designed to poke the mother, making it move away from the calf when they were grazing. Calf collars are a popular form of livestock management and reserve cows’ milk for human consumption, though kinder and painless methods are used to prevent calves suckling today. Calf collars came in a variety of different styles and materials. Whilst spikes on calf collars were usually exclusively made of metal, the straps and the collars themselves were often made of leather to ensure a tighter, more secure fit. There were different variations of the calf collar, including collars with spikes facing Inwards, designed to prod the calf and make it move away from the mother. Another design variation was the calf muzzle, with spikes arranged to lie across the calf’s nose which would prod the mother if suckling was attempted. It was common for calf collars and muzzles to be home-made, fashioned from pieces of old harnesses and nails.', MERL 'Catalogue index' card – ‘… // DATE ACQUIRED: // GROUP: // NEGATIVE: // PERIOD: // PLACE OF ORIGIN: // NUMBER: // DESCRIPTION: …‘ It consists of 15 nail like spikes penetrating through a leather strap. This bends round at one end and has a buckle attached to it. It then leads back as a facing behind the part of the strap with spikes in it to which it is stitched. The other end of the strap is tapered slightly and has four holes in it. There is a loop just behind the buckle for the strap to go through. //

Collar, calf, Muzzle, calf