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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



shakes his head, quietly turns over his notes, and tells them 

 both heifers are entered as having produced live calves, and so 

 the matter ends ; and I was obliged to put up with a second 

 place ; though I believe I am correct, when I state that Mr, 

 Campion never succeeded in rearing but one calf from Jenny, 

 and this was the bull calf she produced the year after ; and 

 when we compare this with the fact that Florence has, I be- 

 lieve by this, produced her fourth calf (all of which lived), and 

 for the very calf of the year referred to (Foundation), that along 

 with forty or fifty pounds in prizes and medah, and a year's 

 service, (from which I am happy to say I have fruits that wil 

 be apt to trouble some of our friends to get over), I am now 

 able to jingle the Marquis of Waterford's two hundred guineas 

 in my pocket ; it is not going too far to say that Mr. Cam- 

 pion's triumph was dearly bought, and such as I could not 

 afford to indulge in. Another case of mine was at Carlow, 

 in 1855, when with Queen of Beauty, I came in contact with 

 Mr. Campion's Ladylike (the only Irish bred cow of her day 

 that Queen of Beauty has not at one time or other conquered, 

 for Ladylike is Irish-bred, though having taken up her abode 

 for a while at Athelstaneford) ; and where I had again to 

 bow to Mr. Campion's superior condition, owing, perhaps, in 

 some respect to his cow not having produced a calf that year, 

 though she was, I believe, in calf at the time. I may, how- 

 ever, be told I am not up to the management of these stock, 

 or have not the right sorts, so I will now give you a case, 

 where, undoubtedly, the best manager of stock in Briton had 

 to bow in consequence of having let off a little of the bloom 

 of his condition, to produce a calf. The case I allude to is 

 that of Mr. Cultshaw's (manager of the Towneley herd till 

 then never beaten), where she had to put up with a commen- 

 dation, as there (in consequence of that absurd rule of dating 

 ages from the first of July), which has amongst other ill conse- 

 quences that of jumbling heifers that have had, and those that 

 have not had produce, in one class, and which rule the Society 

 may also thank for the inferior turn out it always has of Bull 

 calves, and which contrasts so forcibly, and so much to our 

 credit with the class (of about the same age at the time of 

 exhibition) of fine vigorous spring-dropped animals, always 

 to be seen at our Dublin Society shows; and our great supe- 

 riority in which class, over anything exhibited in England at 

 the same age, can be attributed only to the baneful effects of 

 thus putting so great an inducement, for the sake of gaining 

 age, to have calves dropped in, undoubtedly, the worst season 

 of the year, the ill effect of which it is well known an animal 

 can scarce overcome for the first year— as the class thus 

 spreads into two years, and she being calved in 1855, Mr- 

 Cultshaw prudently deemed it too long to let her run with- 

 out having produce, so tried the experiment of making her 

 have her calf, and still be a match for those in the full bloom 

 of condition coming on theirs. That even she was beaten un- 

 der such circumstauces is not much to be wondered at ; but I 

 am much mistaken if she will not again redeem all her lost 

 laurels the first time they again meef, under fairer circum- 

 stances. 



Though I have run this letter to an over-extended length 

 already, still I cannot close it without a few remarks on the 

 production of calves which are not perhaps generally known 

 There are but tew people who do not know that nine months 

 is the time a cow should carry her calf ; but it is not equally 

 well understood, I believe, that if the calf is not carried at 

 least four or five days over this time (the general average being 

 from eight to fifteen days over, according to the sex of the calf, 

 the season of the year, and the constitution of the cow) that it 

 will be almost impossible to rear the calf; and if the early 

 calving is produced by over-feeding, the risk is doubled. It ia 



also perhaps less understood that little or no change takes 

 place in the outward appearance of the calf from the time it is 

 carried six months until about three weeks previous to the 

 nine months being up, except that it gets a coat of hair (some- 

 thing like a mouse), grows a very little larger, and gets life ; 

 and that it is in the last week and the few extra days that it 

 comes to its full hair, full sex, and receives its necessary life, 

 strength, and vigour. And thus it is when a beast is forced 

 on to the very last, and when coming on her calf, that she gets 

 unwieldy, helpless, and completely unnerved ; and into such a 

 state, that if her produce came to its full size she could never 

 produce it. Then it is that old Dame Nature steps in, and 

 saves the animal by bringing forward the calf a few days 

 sooner than it otherwise would, and before it comes to its full 

 size, aud is consequently much easier produced ; and, true to 

 her calling, generally sets a seal at the same time on all future 

 production of produce, so that it may not again interfere with 

 the predominant c'aaracteristicof the animal— its fat-producing 

 property. Thus it is that nearly all the three-year-olds that 

 now astonish the world are virtually no breeders, though 

 doubtless we have had some cases to the contrary, and among 

 which may be mentioned Colonel Towneley'a roan Duchesa 

 the 2nd, and Mr. Douglas's Rose of Summer ; but though 

 these did, I believe, produce calves that were reared, I would 

 like to know if the latter gentleman was equally successful 

 with the live produce of bis heifer, Rose of Athelstane, which 

 entitled her to win our cup at Waterford. Now my idea is — 

 if our show managers wish to give us protection against those 

 men who can afford to go to such extremes, and, in fact, whose 

 interest it is to do so at all risks, and at the same time to level 

 a deadly blow against all over-feeding — let them at once pass 

 a rule that all three-year-olds must have produced their calves 

 previous to the date of show, and that such calves must be 

 then actually alive. The two-ye&r-old case is more difl^cult to 

 deal with. My idea would be, where the cases were at all 

 doubtful, to withhold all prizes, and put a large placard upon 

 the class, to the effect that the prizes were withheld until it 

 could be seen which of the animals produced their calves iu 

 the most satisfactory state ; and that if all did so safely, that 

 the prizes should be awarded to so-and-so. This would checl;. 

 the public ardour, bring them to look fairly at the cases as 

 they stood, and it would also act as a wholesome check on the 

 over-feeding of the heifers coming on their calving, and punish 

 severely any who persevered in pushing things too far, by 

 making public their loss and failure. That such a course 

 would save, to be a good and useful brood cow, many a fine 

 heifer that will now founder on her first calf, I have not the 

 slightest doubt ; and that something requires to be done is 

 evident from the rapid spread of the evil, which has even now 

 made its appearance here at home among ourselves, in the case 

 of The Maid of Kilbogget, who lost in this manner her first 

 produce the other day. Iremaiu, yours respectfully, 



Luke Christy. 

 Fort Union, Adare, Co. Limerick, March lltli, 1859. 



MIXED FEED.— A bushel of carrots and a bushel of 

 oats are as good for a horse, at moderate work, as two 

 bushels ot oats — not because the carrots contain as much 

 nutriment as the bushel of oats, for they do not ; but they 

 aid the digestive organs in a more perfect appropriation of 

 the nutritive principles in both. When horses are continu- 

 ally fed on oats, much of the food passes undigested, and is 

 a dead loss, except to the manure heap. So with sheep and 

 cattle. Give them a few roots daily, and the}' will have a 

 better appetite, digest their food better, and eat greedily 

 coarse hay, that they would otherwise trample under foot. 



