78 Soiling. 



a nice stalk or mouthful, and immediately she is 

 seized with a jealous desire to have that same 

 mouthful, and away she dives. If the other is on 

 the watch, and quick enough, and can run fast 

 enough, she gets out of the way. The most you have 

 gained by this system of feeding cattle is that you 

 have given them a good stirring up. One has lost 

 a horn, another an eye, and by the end of a few 

 weeks the weaker ones that needed the extra feed 

 are mostly cripples, or stand on the outside and 

 eat what the others refuse. The cow that gives milk 

 has shut down, because her principal business now 

 is to chase and fight. Feeding a lot of cows, es- 

 pecially those with horns, soiling crops in a yard or 

 field might do very well if they were being trained 

 for a football match, but you will find that they 

 will do better with half the amount fed to them 

 quietly, each in her own stall. Again, by partial 

 soiling, you miss another great benefit, protection 

 from flies, those little pests that drive the cattle 

 to distraction; instead of filling themselves up to 

 their fullest capacity so that they can give you a 

 brimming pail of milk as a reward, they stand in 

 a pool of water between a couple of bushes or under 

 a thicket, fighting, fighting all day, except when 

 sheer hunger drives them out to seek a few mouth- 

 fuls, and when they do go out to feed, it is for 

 themselves and not for you. They must do it to 

 get a bit of fuel to heat their blood and supply a 

 new draught for the hordes of flies that will tap and 

 rob them of it to-morrow. 



