A SECOND NATURE. 201 



In breeding for the dairy, I believe in bringing heifers in 

 at two years old ; for the reason that, at that age, the organs 

 of secretion, like all j^arts of the body, are in a more pliant 

 condition than they will be at a later period, and they are 

 consequently more readily influenced. The secretion of milk 

 is well calculated to develop them, and to enlarge them to 

 their utmost capacity. If the animal is to become a large 

 m Iker when she arrives- at maturity, she must have abundant 

 room to lay away large supplies of milk ; and the capacity 

 for holding these supplies must be created while her system 

 is pliant, elastic, and easily influenced. 



Let the heifer take the bull towards the end of July, in 

 August, or early in September, if she will, and you bring 

 the parturition in the following spring, at a time very favora- 

 ble for the production of milk. In spring the grasses are 

 green, abundant, and tender, full of rich milk-producing 

 juices, which cause the largest development of the milk- 

 forming organs. 



If, on the other hand, the first parturition of the young 

 heifer takes place in winter, the distention of the udder on 

 dry forage is slight, and the product in milk corresponds. 

 The milky glands will have but slight development. Soon 

 this habit will become a second nature, so to speak, Avliich no 

 amount of feeding can wholly correct. The external signs 

 of a good milker may be there ; but the yield does not come 

 up to the production which they indicate ; and this fact will 

 often explain an apparent exception to the established rules. 

 I do not hesitate to say, that, in my opinion, a heifer coming 

 in in May or June, and properly treated, will be worth a 

 great deal more as a dairy cow than one coming in with her 

 first calf at any other season of the year. 



So far as my observation has gone (and the experience of 

 the best dairymen will coincide), a heifer coming in at two 

 years old, — if properly fed, carefully milked, forced up, if you 

 please, to her utmost capacity of production, and made to 

 hold out almost till the new milk springs for a second calf, — ■ 

 will invariably make a better milker than one coming in at 

 three years old. Of course this supposes that the animal, as 

 a calf, has been well fed, and kept in a thriving condition 

 up to the age of a year or fifteen months, when she will go 

 to the bull. She should have a, fair development and good 



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