OF LIVE STOCK, 145 



be worked a few days after she foals, and the milk of the cow, 

 is not so valuable, (excepting perhaps near a large town), as 

 her labour. One cow is sufficient for a foal. The foal and 

 cow should go together j for the first fortnight, the foal 

 should be fed four or five times a-day, afterwards three times 

 a-day is sufficient ; the milk to be given warm from the cow. 

 If this system be carried on attentively for four or five months, 

 there is no doubt, but the foal will be fully stronger than by 

 suckling the mother. A great risk is also avoided, namely, 

 that of purchasing a bad substitute for the mare. It might 

 likewise be a good plan, on a farm where two brood mares 

 are kept, to let one of them alternately suckle the foal her- 

 self, while the other was brought up by a cow* By that 

 means, the mares would get a rest every two years, by suck- 

 ling: the foal themselves, and the work of one of them would 



D 



always be saved. 



Some farmers in Wigtonshire, accustomed to import horses 

 from Ireland, are in the habit of frequently changing, (at 

 least a part of them), by which means, they in some degree 

 exempt themselves from the article of wear and tear, by a 

 judicious mode of buying and selling. Where mares are 

 chiefly purchased, and occasionally bred from, this may be 

 done with some profit. The best farmers, however, avoid 



however, the cow's mil& must be as valuable as the mare's labour. Mr 

 Dods of Pension West-bank, has for years successfully used the milk of 

 cows for fostering foals. But it is a dangerous expedient to put them 

 together on the pasture. A cow with horns, might inadvertently injure 

 the foal : Besides, when accustomed to the company of cows, it might be 

 attended with much difficulty, if at all possible, to keep the foal from 

 sucking other cows, 'if admitted to pasture with them. The most healthy 

 method of rearing foals, is certainly in an open pasture, rather than soil- 

 ing in any yard whatever, and a bad habit of sucking cows, might be the 

 means of depriving the foal of that important privilege. 

 VOL. J. K 



