6 BETTER DAIRY FARMING 



15. Feeding at calving time. — About a week before calving 

 time the cow should be placed in dry quarters, well ventilated but 

 protected from drafts. There should be plenty of bedding. At 

 this time her ration should be laxative and cooling. The feeding 

 of silage should be liberal. The grain should be cut down to perhaps 

 half that recommended for the dry cow. At this time we would 

 change the proportions of the grain mixture so that it would con- 

 tain relatively more wheat bran and oil meal. If no silage is being 

 fed such a change is especially desirable. The most important 

 thing at this time is to avoid constipation. The grain mixture the 

 last few days may consist entirely of bran and oil meal in the ratio 

 of 2 : 1, if constipation is evident. In such a case it may also be 

 desirable to give a purgative such as one pound of epsom salts or 

 one quart of linseed oil. If one can be sure of giving such a purga- 

 tive within 24 hours of calving it is always a good thing to do. 

 The cow should receive little roughage the last day or two so that 

 the digestive system is not so distended as to interfere with the 

 expulsion of the foetus. 



The above applies to cows freshening out of the pasture season. 

 There is no better place for the cow to drop her calf than in a 

 clean, grassy pasture. If it is during the early pasture season, the 

 cow will probably be receiving no grain or roughage. The pasture 

 grass will keep her in satisfactory condition for calving. Where she 

 is receiving considerable supplementary feed, as she should where 

 the pasture is poor, this feed should be regulated before calving 

 as we have outlined in the above paragraph. 



The animal should have access at all times to plenty of good 

 clean water, or if this is not possible she should be watered two or 

 three times daily. The water should never be very cold. 



16. Udder troubles. — At this time the dairyman must be on 

 the lookout for udder troubles. If the cow is receiving plenty of 

 water and is not constipated no fear need be had for swollen and 

 caked udders as long as hard feverish spots are not present. If 

 these occur they are best treated by rubbing with warm water. 

 There are many proprietary preparations on the market for mas- 

 saging the udder and the use of one of them or some sort of grease 



