BREEDING AND GENERAL MANAGEMENT. 17 



and we are quite certain that for feeding purposes they are the 

 better for having dropped a calf. We have not, however, had 

 so much experience of early breeding for the dairy. We are 

 quite aware that our suggestions do not meet with universal 

 approval, and we believe that a high authority on animal 

 physiology — Professor Brown — takes a directly contrary view, 

 but we can only give our own experience. Before calving, the 

 cow should be placed in a loose box or shed by herself, and not 

 tied up. It is a most unnatural proceeding to allow cows to 

 calve when tied up in their usual places, among, perhaps, 

 twenty others. The calf runs considerable risk of being injured 

 by the other cows in case it is born when no one is in atten- 

 dance. The plan is simply cruel, and on no account to be 

 followed. Of course, sometimes such a case occurs on the best 

 regulated farms, but in these instances the cow either calves 

 before her time or unexpectedly. After calving, the cow should 

 have warm gruel and a little sweet hay. Chilled water should 

 be used for the first three days, after which, if no unfavourable 

 symptoms occur, all danger ceases. If there is any fear of 

 fever (as is always the case with large milkers), a moderate 

 aperient may be given. Linseed oil is useful for this purpose, 

 and safer than salts and sulphur, which, however, are frequently 

 given. Cleansing drinks should be always at hand, in case the 

 animals do not clean properly. 



G-reat loss is often occasioned by cows slipping their calves. 

 There seems to be no accounting for this ; as a rule, the food 

 the animals have been fed on gets the blame, but if anyone will 

 be at the trouble to inquire into the matter, they will find that 

 cows slip calf on all kinds of food, and under all sorts of manage- 

 ment. When one cow among a lot of others slips her calf, she 

 should be at once separated from them, and not allowed to be 

 with them again for some time. Unless this is done, and at 

 once, the farmer cannot be sure when it may stop — perhaps not 

 before half his cows have followed the example. Mr. Clement 

 Stephenson, in a valuable paper published in the "E.A.S.E.* 

 Journal," 1885, attributes much of our heavy losses fi^om this 

 cause to impure water, and especially water contaminated with 

 sewage and decaying vegetable matters ; and he truly says this is 

 not surprising since such waters not only contain injurious organic 



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