158 NOTES ON FIELDS AND CATTLE. 



nuity ? Some like their cows to calve about Christ- 

 mas-time, so as to secure the run of the spring prices 

 for butter and milk. A heifer (as I stated above) 

 should calve her first calf down to a full flush of 

 grass. Some dairymen prefer their cows calving not 

 too early, because they go dry sooner, but that should 

 not be the case with plenty of roots, and green crops 

 to follow. The farmer's wife records that the autumn 

 grass yields more curd for cheese. Regard being had 

 to the pail and the butcher, your cows should not be 

 kept too old : the heifer calves of the best milkers 

 being reared, there will be a regular succession for 

 the dairy. Put them up to fatten at once when 

 their yield begins decidedly to diminish : but mind, 

 this may depend upon the food you supply them. 

 The London milkmen, of course, sell off each one as 

 she gets dry, with the rarest exception. Once in a 

 generation they will breed from a prime milker. 



If you buy in the market a good cow, }'ou run con- 

 siderable risk of her being a kicker, or she would not 

 otherwise have been parted with. Mind and have her 

 drained off at once, as soon as she is yours, as sellers 

 too often adopt the cruel plan of leaving the poor 

 brute unmilked for a day or more previous to her 

 being exhibited for sale, with the view to her having 

 a great "show;" in other words, a distended udder. 

 It is termed " stocking for sale." 



If you must purchase, try to import from worse 

 land than your own, or you are sure to lose. Do all 

 you can to prevent your cows from sinking too low 

 in flesh during the winter. They should meet the 

 grass season in good trim, or you will not be more 



