272 AMERICAN CATTLE. 



a heifer, or steer, whether they be easy to handle, or otherwise, 

 according to the use he may make of them. "We have at dif- 

 ferent times bought both steers and heifers at the West one for 

 the yoke, or beef, the other to make dairy cows. They were 

 treated in the common way of many Western breeders, always 

 running out in winter, as well as in summer, and the labor of 

 breaking them into the stables after taking them home, aside 

 from the risk of injury, was a heavy tax on both time and 

 patience. Some would be intractable altogether, and have to be 

 turned out for beef before their profitable time, while others, 

 after a few days' tying up, would become gentle, and give no 

 further trouble. We know that in large breeding herds, and 

 under all circumstances, it is not possible to always bring young 

 cattle up to familiar handling, from the want of stables, or sheds ; 

 but every breeder should have some accommodation of the kind. 

 It will pay him a better interest on the investment, for the benefit 

 of his stock, than any other expenditure, to a moderate amount, 

 after the farm is fitted for occupation. The practice so common 

 with many farmers, of giving no winter shelter to their stock, is 

 a losing one in food, as well as by their exposure to the sudden 

 change of the atmosphere and weather. Such practice should 

 be reformed. 



REARING THOROUGH BRED HEIFERS. 



When intended for breeding only, and early maturity and ready 

 sales are the object, all the milk from the cow should be given, 

 and the calf may draw it either from the udder, or pail. She 

 should be confined in her stall, or paddock, kept under perfect 

 control with the halter, and in addition to milk, fed with all the 

 hay or grass according to the season she will eat. She may 

 nurse her dam, or be fed milk from the pail through the entire 

 season, if necessary ; but six to eight months are enough, so that 

 she have a sufficiency of other good food, and the succeeding calf 

 will be all the better for the long rest of her dam. 



