52 GUIDE TO DAIRYING IN SOUTH AFRICA 



cannot afford to buy highly priced pure-bred cows 

 which have established phenomenal milk records. 



Get the best cows possible at the best price you 

 can afford to pay. Handle them intelligently, and 

 whenever an opportunity presents itself get rid of 

 any cow testing below a standard which you have 

 fixed for your mark. Seize always the chance to 

 invest in one of better quality, remembering that 

 one good cow gives more satisfaction than two bad 

 ones. 



In handling a herd for profit the time in which 

 we should allow our cows to calve depends on what 

 branch of dairying we are following. Should the 

 farmer be near a town or city and the supply of 

 whole milk be his aim, he must obviously not have 

 all his cows calve at once. If he has twelve cows, 

 for example, he may have one of them calve every 

 month ; or, if six cows only are kept, one cow should 

 calve every two months. By this means there is a 

 continual and even supply of milk, so necessary when 

 customers have been found and who depend on a 

 constant daily milk delivery. 



This method of having a cow come fresh every 

 month is easily worked by allowing certain periods 

 of "heat" to pass, and as the cow " bulls " every 

 three weeks, by keeping the bull away from the 

 herd and bringing each cow to him separately. 

 The date of calving can therefore be controlled to a 

 very considerable extent. Care, however, must be 



