BREEDING AND GENERAL MANAGEMENT. 15 



impregnation, and tlie imagination has a good deal to do with 

 colour ; and it is said that the late Mr. McCombie, the celebrated 

 breeder of black cattle, was most careful to have all his buildings, 

 gates, &c., painted black. 



The period of the year at which our cows should calve will 

 depend upon circumstances ; if our object is rearing and 

 dairying, the calves should drop from Christmas to March or 

 April ; if we are for cheese, March and April ; and if we are 

 milk-sellers, the cows must come in at all periods. Early 

 calving is best for the offspring. The difference of wintering 

 between a calf dropped in January and May, both receiving 

 equal care, is very great. 



As to the best age to commence breeding, different opinions 

 exist, and everything depends upon the class of animals we 

 possess, and the quality of our land to favour early maturity. 

 As the question is a very important one, it would be well if 

 experiments were carried out to determine at what age heifers 

 will breed. If conditions are favourable, the calf that drops in 

 from December to April may be brought to the bull when 

 fifteen months old, that is during the summer of the succeeding 

 year. The first calf will then be dropped when the heifer is 

 about, or a little over, two years old. Of course, we presuppose 

 careful attention and abundance of food. The heifer may be 

 small at this time, but grows rapidly afterwards, and we bring 

 our animal into a productive state at the earliest period. The 

 milk may not be very abundant, but there is plenty for the calf, 

 which should be allowed to suck, at any rate for some time, as 

 the bag is thereby developed and rendered soft ; at six months 

 it is good policy to dry the heifer, as she is thus enabled to lay 

 on flesh and take care of the foetus. These remarks apply, of 

 course, only to cultivated breeds. We could refer to many 

 excellently managed dairies where a number of the best heifer 

 calves are reared, and are so well cared for that the bull is 

 turned with them about mid- summer, and thus the first calf is 

 dropped at about two years, and it is really extraordinary how 

 much milk these heifers will yield. In breeds that are not so 

 forward, or where circumstances are unfavourable for early 

 development, the heifer calves at from two and a half to three 

 years old. In reference to this point, we could multiply 



