54 GUIDE TO DAIRYING IN SOUTH AFRICA 



and when milk and butter fat are more difficult to 

 handle on account of the heat. 



By getting the cows served about August or 

 September and letting them calve in April or May 

 they rest during the hottest months when prices are 

 lowest, and so it makes them most productive when 

 prices are highest. Not only, therefore, is the 

 difference felt in the creamery cheque, but the 

 young stock are weaned at the beginning of spring, 

 the most suitable period for weaning. They will 

 have been fed on skim milk in their calfhood during 

 the winter, along with hay and light grain feed, and 

 when they are weaned they go straight to a growing 

 pasture and thus have no "set back." 



At present, in the majority of cases the South 

 African cow calves in the early spring, the calf is 

 weaned at the end of summer and has to manage 

 for itself on a declining and frost-bitten pasture, 

 the result being a " set-back," and the animals take 

 three to four years to grow out properly. The calf 

 should be kept coming on steadily from the day of 

 its birth until it has reached full size ; for young 

 dairy stock which is hindered at any stage of its 

 life is spoilt stock. 



Heifer calves intended for the dairy should 

 frequently be handled in order to develop in them 

 a quiet temperament, and when they are " in calf" 

 occasional handling of the udder will make them 

 familiar with the operation, so that a cow will take 



