BREEDING AND TREATMENT OF DAIRY CATTLE. 4! 



ones and far pleasanter. Land that will sustain good cattle 

 is slighted if bad ones are kept upon it, and land that will not 

 sustain good cattle should be avoided as one would avoid the 

 plague. Such land, indeed, is a plague enough in itself, and 

 so are low-class cattle. Good cattle will always yield a better 

 return than bad ones for the food they eat ; they have an apti- 

 tude for yielding a good return and bad ones haven't. Take, 

 for instance, the question of milk : cows bred for milk will 

 yield more of it and of a better quality, on a given quantity 

 and quality of food, than cows not bred for milk can possibly 

 be made to do. There is, in fact, far more in breed than in 

 feed for milk, and this is a fact in natural history which every 

 dairy farmer should constantly bear in mind. Feed inferior 

 milkers as generously as you like, and you cannot raise their 

 milk yield above a narrow limit. This limit is soon reached 

 in such cows, whereas in cows naturally inclined to milk well, 

 the limit is not easily reached. 



Feeding. 



Well-bred cattle, properly fed from the start and not pam- 

 pered, are quite as cheaply maintained as any other sort. In 

 respect to food, they either eat less or make more progress 

 than inferior sorts. But they are not wanted to eat less, for 

 the more they eat the better, within limits, if only they make a 

 corresponding return in milk or in beef, as the case may be ; 

 and when they are through as milkers, the sooner they make 

 beef the better. It is quite possible, though not always easy, 

 to breed cattle that are very good for both purposes, and it is 

 certain that cattle well bred in this way will give more milk 

 and fatten quicker for the butcher than will inferior cattle. It 

 is pitiable to see how little milk some cows will condescend to 

 give, even on good land, and you may as well try to fatten a 

 five-barred gate as some of these. Feed them how you will, 

 they either cannot eat enough or they waste a good deal of it 

 in the process of digestion. In all breeds there are good, bad, 

 and indifferent cattle ; but it is the good ones that pay the 



