292 DAIRYING PASTURE AND FOOD 



receive consideration and attention, for reasons to be explained 

 later, they are not so popular, and the success of silage in 

 places too uncongenial for the growth of roots has made 

 them less essential. 



Extremes of heat or cold are disadvantageous, but these 

 are not so great in this country, except on high cold 

 mountain-ranges, that they cannot be overcome by shelter. 

 Summer shelter is necessary for protection against the sun 

 and flies in warm weather, and from wind and rain while it is 

 stormy. This may be secured by tall hedges, belts of plantation, 

 high stone walls, or cheap low-roofed open sheds. Winter 

 shelter is usually given by housing, except in a few mild 

 districts as in Cheshire, where cows lie out all winter. 

 There the shelters provided in summer prove valuable. 

 Extreme cold reduces the flow of milk ; and excessive heat, 

 with its various accompanying irritations, lowers both quality 

 and quantity. There is no animal product of the farm so 

 easily affected by adverse circumstances as milk. Materials 

 for its secretion are provided by the cow only after every 

 other want of the animal system has been supplied; conse- 

 quently, the maximum of milk production can be attained 

 only when the cow is free from all annoyances or dis- 

 comforts, so that she may settle to the consumption of a 

 proper quantity of food, and obtain the necessary rest and 

 quiet to enable her to make the best use of it. Moderate 

 exertion, as browsing in a field, is advantageous to animals 

 that are to be retained as dairy stock from year to year, for it 

 keeps the limbs and the general constitution in a sound and 

 healthy condition, and checks the tendency to run to fat, which 

 cows acquire if constantly tied up. An immediate reduction 

 in the quantity of milk follows any excess of exertion ; this 

 may occur through the cows startling and running frantically 

 from the great gad-fly, Tabanus bovinus, and the little grey 

 horse-fly, cleg, or small rain-breeze fly, H&matopota pluvialis, 

 which appears in July; 1 it occurs also when they are in 



1 " Cattle on hot summer days are driven almost frantic by flies, thin- 

 skinned young animals suffering more torment from their attacks than 

 older ones. The Americans call this season of the year * fly-time,' and 

 as galloping madly over sun-baked pastures is not good for horses' feet, 

 and there is nothing like peace and quiet for cows, it is best in fly-time 

 to keep such animals in their stalls and sheds by day, and to turn them 



