CALF-REARiKo.] C A T 1' L K, AM) Til HI i: VAlilETIKS. [calf-kevuino. 



and the period of gestation varies from 1275 to 

 '2{)0 iluva. Therefore, the old-fushionod mode, 

 of ri'dvouiiiE: three months buck in the ulmanae, 

 i3 not a dilllcult way of knowini; the date at 

 whicii a cow, put to the bull, may be expected 

 to ealve. She is nearly three years old when 

 she produces her first calf, which is very often 

 the produce of a very iuditierent sire. In 

 about six weeks after calving, the cow will be 

 ready to take the bull again, although she may 

 not hold ; and if the mouth of June be suftered 

 to expire before she is covered, she will be 

 likely to calve at a time when it will bo un- 

 proliiable to the breeder. Sometimes only the 

 tenth of the cows of the dairyman are in calf, 

 when he loses both milk and produce; but 

 whether the cows are in calf, or only in an ex- 

 cited state, every twenty-one days it has a 

 very unfavourable eflect on the milk. To 

 arrest this evil, numerous remedies have been 

 suggested ; among which are confinement, 

 bleeding, abstinence at the time of bulling, or 

 ot permitting to have the bull for one return 

 <jf the season. Some drench the cows with a 

 pailful of cold water after the cow has been 

 ^jrved, and some change the bull. Thus, 

 (.■very one has his own peculiar mode of acting, 

 and, no doubt, every one thinks his own 

 remedy the best. Where the loins are to be 

 served, however, it is desirable to have this 

 done in the morning, previous to milking. 

 Bat sometimes the cow will not get into 

 season ; and here also the skill and ingenuity 

 of mankind have been sorely tried in order to 

 force her into an excited condition. Some 

 try one thing, and some another ; but, perhaps, 

 the best plan to adopt is, to give the animal a 

 quart of the milk of a cow that is in season ; 

 after this, it is said that, in three weeks, she 

 will be ready for the bull, and a second return 

 ■will be productive. 



After the calf is produced, as a matter of 

 course, it requires to be fed with such aliment 

 as nature, at the commencement of life, has 

 provided for it. Xo food, therefore, is better 

 for the sucking animal than milk. In this it 

 finds proteiue compounds, or, in other words, 

 flesh-forming substances, to supply materials 

 for the development of muscle ; lime and 

 phosphoric acid, from which the inorganic part 

 of the bones is formed ; alkaline salts, which 

 enter so largely into the composition of blood 

 4 B 



Hnd (i:lier animal juices; sugar and fatty 

 matters to supply the wasto of cnrbun, wliicli 

 is thrown oif during respiration, in the form of 

 carbonic acid. Milk thus contains, within 

 itself, all the elements necessary to the support 

 of life, and, from this circumstance, is justly 

 considered a modt nutritious, as it is an uni- 

 versal food. The sucking animal is, by nature, 

 created to suck this beverage, and is 8up[)orled 

 by it for a length of time, which varies in the 

 young of different animals. There can be no 

 doubt, that if the animal is too early deprived 

 of the milk of its mother, it will sulfer in its 

 growth. On the other hand, the addition of 

 milk to other food, properly proportioned to 

 the necessities of the growing animal, promotes 

 its growth, and assists in strengthening its 

 constitution in a more than ordinary degree. 

 Beyond a certain period, however, milk diet 

 alone cannot be continued with profit; for it 

 must be remembered that herbivorous animals 

 naturally require a bulky food to preserve 

 them in good condition. Young animals must 

 gradually be reared on a more solid food than 

 milk, as it is essential to stimulate all the 

 different parts of the alimentary canal to a 

 healthy activity. To bring up a calf for the 

 butcher, is by no means a diflicult process. 

 It is only necessary to allow it to suck its 

 mother for the requisite number of weeks, 

 until it has attained to the size and fatness 

 suitable to the judgment of the buyer and the 

 taste of the consumer. 



"The materials usually employed for solid 

 food," says the autlior of The Cow, '' are, new 

 milk, skimmed milk, meal-porridge, linseed- 

 tea, and hay, grass, turnips, meal, potatoes, 

 mangel-wurzel, &c. Some breeders — whoso 

 object is the calf, and the calf alone — sacrifice 

 every other consideration to this. The breeders 

 of short-horns, whose early maturity require 

 a corresponding early supply of nutritious 

 food, generally apply nature's own provision, 

 and allow the calves to suck either their 

 mother, or some other dam, or in some cases 

 more than one cow, in order that they may 

 develop their precocious and distinctive quali- 

 ties. This practice they often continue lor 

 six or twelve months. It is, however, an 

 expensive mode of feeding for those who rear 

 only ordinary cattle for the market. More- 

 over, some aro so 'stingy,' that as soon as tho 



G73 



