72 TREATMENT OF THE COW 



there is a plan usually adopted, and a very necessary one — the cow 

 is dried six or eight weeks before calvinjr. Two reasons are given 

 for this : the first is, that after a long period of milking, the strength 

 and constitution of the cow require a little respite : a more important 

 reason, however, is, that from some cause that has never been fully 

 explained, the mixture of the old milk, and the new secretion that 

 nature prepares for the expected calf, produces frequently great irri- 

 tation and inflammation in the udder, and obstinate garget is apt to 

 ensue. 



During the early period of gestation the animal may, and should 

 be, tolerably well fed, for she has to provide milk for the dairy and 

 nourishment for the foetus ; yet even here there should be moderation 

 and care: but when she is dried, her food should be considerably 

 diminished. She should not be too fat or full of blood at the time 

 of calving, for that is the frequent cause of difficult labour, garget, 

 milk fever, and death. There are few things in which the farmer errs 

 more than in this. There may be an error in starving her before she 

 calves, but it is a much more dangerous one to bring her into too high 

 condition. 



Some cows are apt to slifik their calves, or to produce them dead 

 before their time. This generally happens about the middle of their 

 pregnancy. If about that time a cow is uneasy, feverish, off her food, 

 or wandering about in search of something for which she seems to 

 have a lunching, or most greedily and ravenously devouring some 

 particular kind of food, she should be bled and physicked (No. 2, p. 

 47). If she is not quieted, she should be bled and physicked again 

 in the course of three or four days. She should be immediately re- 

 moved from the other cows; for should she slink her calf among 

 them, it is not improbable that some, or even all, of the others will 

 do the same. This is not easily accounted for, but it is perfectly true. 

 The cow that slinks her calf will often require much attention. She 

 should always be physicked, and in most cases bled, and, after that, 

 the best thing to be done with her is to fatten her for the butcher ; for 

 she will probably do the same again, and teach others the habit. 



When the ninth calendar month is nearly expired,* the cow should 

 be diligently looked after. She should be brought as near to the 

 house as can be conveniently done; she should lose three or four 

 quarts of blood, unless she is very poor; and she should most cer- 

 tainly be physicked. It will be better if she can be separated from 

 the other cows ; and although it may not be prudent to house her 

 entirely, there should be some shed or shelter into which she may go. 



When it appears that labour is close at hand, she should be driven 

 gently to the cow-house, and for a while left quite alone. She will 

 do better by herself than if she is often disturbed by one and another 



* ThR avera^p pnriod of pestatinn in the cowhas]»een ascertained by Earl Spenrer 

 to be 2-^4 or 2ri5 days. The lonsest period under his observation was 31H, and tiie 

 shortest 220 days. Ho also found that when gestation was longer than the averape, 

 the greater proportion were bull calves.— fFAitc on Cattle Medicine, by fV. C. Spooner, 



