Management of Breeding Cattle. Ml) 



vation is necessary to discover any error in time to prevent its 

 extending. 



What is called breeding' in and in Avill no doubt ensure greater 

 certainty as to the produce, but, beyond one or two generations, it 

 is objectionable ; although you may secure a more perfect form, 

 you will lose in size and weaken the constitution. Many men ot 

 the greatest experience in breeding animals are opposed to this 

 system ; amongst them I may mention the late Sir John Sebright, 

 who made the experiment Avith a variety of animals, in all of which 

 he discovered that it was injurious. Its advocates sometimes bring 

 forward the Avild animals as an instance that close breeding does 

 not cause degeneracy : Sir John says in answer to this that — 

 " Natui'e provides for herself in this way, that the greater propor- 

 tion of the weak animals die before coming to maturity, and 

 that the most robust males serve the largest number of females,' 

 so that the work of propagation is chiefly carried on b}' the 

 stronger and superior animals, as much in fact as if they were 

 selected. 



The term breeding in and in is very indefinite, and not suffi- 

 ciently understood, some applying it to all near relations, whereas, 

 strictly speaking, it should only be applied to animals of precisely 

 the same blood, as own brother and sister. Now, the daughter 

 is only half the blood of the father, and the son only half that of 

 the mother, and breeding from such relationship as this last, if 

 watched with care, may be carried to a moderate extent without 

 injury, and perhaps Avith some advantage. But we must remem- 

 ber that, in the present day, good male animals are so easily pro- 

 cured that no man need be driven to breed in and in because he 

 cannot procure a suitable cross. 



With regard to diseases I have generallv iji^'en mv own direc- 

 tions as to medical treatment, taking as my guide Skellett's work 

 ' On the Diseases, &c., of Cattle,' and I am glad of this oppor- 

 tunity to bear my testimony to its value to the cowkeeper, from 

 the clear manner in which the author describes maladies and 

 directs the treatment of cows especially during gestation. 



Cleanliness should be attended to, and cattle should occa- 

 sionally be scrubbed with a brush made of whalebone, particu- 

 larly on those parts Avhich cannot be easily reached with the 

 tongue ; young animals are often much annoyed with lice, these 

 should be destroyed the moment they appear, a strong decoction 

 of tobacco being the most simple mode. Neither should a slight 

 indisposition be neglected, and if a cow refuses her food, or gives 

 less milk than usual, 1 am always suspicious of evil, and my cow- 

 man has drenches at hand composed of 1 lb. of salts, and an ounce 

 each of ginger and nitre, with instructions to give one to any 

 animal which fails in appetite, or in the supply of milk, or appears 



