THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



331 



til the last day of the year. In such a season, which we 

 may not again witness for many years, I should prefer 

 leaving the cattle in the fields to keeping them in the 

 best-arranged yards, as there is no food equal to grass 

 for breeding cattle, and they should have it whenever it 

 is to be obtained. When the grass is deficient 

 in quality or quantity, the stock can have a little hay or 

 linseed cake given them in the yards or fields ; but I 

 would on no account deprive them of exercise in fine 

 weather, let the time of year be what it may. 



If loose boxes and yards with open sheds arc so neces- 

 sary for the young and active stock, how much more 

 essential are they for our heavy and sometimes unwieldy 

 cows ! and how frequently do we find them with a 

 swelled knee, a bruised breast, or a slipped hip ! The 

 two former evils are the consequences of keeping them 

 tied up ; the latter is not unfrequently caused by the 

 cow turning sharply round on being untied, and slipping 

 down on the smooth brick floor of a cow-house. A cow- 

 house is certainly a convenient place for cows to be in 

 whilst they are milked ; but ail breeders who study the 

 health of their cows will afterwards have them turned 

 into yards, with a good shed in it, to shelter them from 

 storms. I am persuaded that if cows were thus treated, 

 we should have fewer complaints of pure-bred short- 

 horns being so tender, avoid thick knees, bruised breasts, 

 the extremes of heat and cold, and preserve the 

 rough shaggy coats which are so much admired and 

 esteemed by our best breeders. Some cow-houses which 

 I have visited have been so confined for space, and 

 crowded with cows, that the animals are constantly in a 

 heated state ; and I have seen the hair shorn off the 

 hacks of cows, owing to the profuse perspiration they 

 were generally in. The unhealthiness of such places is 

 sufficiently obvious. If we must have cow-houses, let 

 them be large and well ventilated. The cow should 

 have ample room to rise and lie down ; and though her 

 hind-quarters want to be a trifle lower than her fore- 

 quarters, her rump should not drop into a gutter, as is 

 too often the case. The drainage of the shed should be 

 properly attended to ; the roof should be high, and 

 thoroughly ventilated. The draining and ventilating of 

 buildings intended to contain a considerable number of 

 animals is now so well understood, that no new erections 

 need contain hot or foul air, if proper precautions are 

 adopted. 



Our heifer is now near calving her second calf, and, 

 having been dried some months, she is fresh. Advan- 

 tage should be taken of every fine day, should it be the 

 winter season, to give her a run in the field, if only for 

 two hours. If she is not a cow which will exercise her- 

 self, I shoiild advise her having gentle exercise for at 

 least an hour a day for two or three weeks before she is 

 due to calve. When very fresh, and the season of the 

 year warm, she can scarcely have too much exercise ; 

 but the cow must travel her oivn pace, nor must she be 

 driven in the heat of the sun. A mild dose of physic 

 once a week will also prove beneficial in such cases, but 

 I am not an advocate (as a rule) for bleeding cows when 

 near their calving time. I have known cows heavy in 

 calf fed for exhibition, which have afterwards calved 



safely, and in warm weather. The cow is then driven 

 out daily by a boy, who gives the animal a half-mile 

 walk the first journey, and gradually increases the dis- 

 tance to five or six miles a day. Frequent doses of 

 mild physic are also necessary, and are sometimes given 

 on alternate days for a fortnight. 



We must now assume that the heifer, instead of being 

 in-calf, breaks her bulling, and comes regularly in use. 

 In this case, about a week before the heifer is coming 

 into season, we should bleed her, give a strong dose of 

 physic— chiefly sulphur, Epsom salts, and treacle — and 

 exercise her for an hour after putting her to the bull. 

 Should this treatment fail, let her pass once, and serve 

 her at the end of six weeks, keeping her on low diet • 

 give two or three purging drinks, and plenty of exercise 

 between. A change of bull is also desirable — par- 

 ticularly from an aged to a young bull — and 

 to take special care that the cow is willing 

 to receive the bull. I am inclined to think that many 

 cows are served at the wrong time, and if they are shy 

 breeders, the proper period for getting them in calf is 

 missed. To save time, when the first symptoms appear, 

 the cowman puts the cow into the bulling stocks, and 

 makes her have the bull, if she is willing or otherwise. 

 This practice cannot be too strongly condemned. If the 

 bull is not savage, nor unsafe to have his liberty, he 

 should be turned loose into a yard with the cow, and if 

 she stands quietly, he may serve her well once, and then 

 be removed. But if the cow will not stand well, it is 

 better to wait an hour or two, and again put the bull to 

 her, when she probably will be more ready. The breed- 

 ing properties of cows vary. Certain strains of blood I 

 have noticed which breed alternate years only, succes- 

 sive generations following suit. Other tribes produce a 

 live calf annually, and you may reckon safely upon the 

 daughter " standing" and breeding as regularly as her 

 dam. I need scarcely say how desirable it is to preserve 

 and cultivate those strains which are most prolific, and 

 to discard the shy breeders, unless their merits will com- 

 pensate for loss of time. The most difficult cases to 

 deal with are cows which have calved prematurely. The 

 cow must have one or two cleansing drinks given her, 

 and be allowed to go full two months beyond her proper 

 calving time, before she is again put to the bull. If she 

 is not quite clean and healthy, more time must be al- 

 lowed her, and her body kept well open and cool. In 

 the year 1855, six cows of a herd under my care, at dif- 

 ferent periods cast their calves. Of these cows, by pur- 

 suing the treatment here described, three resumed 

 breeding, and produced live calves at maturity in 1856. 

 One ceased to be in a breeding state, and was fatted. 

 Another came regularly in season, was bulled at inter- 

 vals for eight months, and did not stand. She was then 

 sent to a distance, on foot, ran the round of several bulls, 

 returned home, and was in use the same week ; was 

 served by a young bull, and stood, and produced a live 

 calf at maturity, having lost 12 months' time. The 

 sixth cow was similarly treated, but she never stood; 

 and after exhausting the patience of ourselves and our 

 bulls, she was sold barren. This cow difi'ered from the 

 preceding, inasmuch as she usually went six weeks be- 



