174 LIVE STOCK MANAGEMENT. 



she need nourishment, make a thin gruel which she can 

 drink. After this, she may be put on a light ration of hay, 

 silage, roots, and grain (oats, bran, ground peas, a little oil 

 meal or gluten feed), which may be gradually increased until 

 at 3 or 4 weeks she may be on full ration. 



Do not allow her calf to suck her more than two days 

 at most. The quicker it is weaned, the better for both calf 

 and cow. Sometimes a heifer wants her calf so badly that 

 she will be inclined to hold up her milk unless it is present. 

 This difficulty may be overcome by using a little kindness. 

 Never whip her or abuse her in any way to make her give 

 down her milk. Treat her kindly. It pays. You have the 

 making or spoiling of what otherwise might be a first-class 

 cow. Try the plan of having her calf near enough so she 

 can lick it while you draw the milk from her. Repeat this 

 a few times and pretty soon the calf can be removed alto- 

 gether. It is not a good plan to feed a cow to get her to 

 give down her milk. When the operation of milking is going 

 on the cow and the man should be working in perfect har- 

 mony. 



Keep her milking just as long as you can get a drop of 

 milk from her at this first milking period. Feed her well on 

 milk producing foods and make her milk 11 months. Don't 

 let her dry up. She must form the habit of milking for a 

 long time and of giving large quantities. Feed and manage- 

 ment have much to do with her acquiring this habit. Do 

 not allow her to be bred right away after dropping her first 

 calf. This has been a severe trial to her and she should 

 have time to recuperate. Breed her so that she will drop 

 her second calf not less than 15 months from first fresh- 

 ening. 



If, during her second period of lactation, she does not 

 give upwards of 6,000 pounds of milk or make 250 pounds of 

 butter, she should be disposed of, as she will not make a cow 

 that will pay her way as a dairy cow. 



A heifer's first calf, if a heifer, should not be kept for a 

 dairy cow. 



