No. 5. 



Continuance of Milk in Cons. — Haven Cattle. 



163 



Continuance of Milk in Cows. 



It certainly would be a very great advan- 

 tage to those who wish to keep a cow or 

 cows, solely for their milk, if any feasible 

 method could be adopted by which cows could 

 be made permanent milkers, or their owners, 

 particularly those who live in cities, be saved 

 the trouble and inconvenience of their breed- 

 ing. There are two ways in which this 

 seems practicable. The first method is to 

 keep the cow in milk, from the bull, by con- 

 stantly stabling her, after her first and se- 

 cond calf, and in this state, milked regularly, 

 and well fed, she will continue to give milk 

 for two or more years. She usually ends, 

 however, by becoming too fat for proiit as a 

 milker, her milk gradually failing, and she 

 then goes to the butclrer. The large dairies 

 of London, have their cows treated in this 

 manner, and in practice it is found far pre- 

 ferable to the old one, of having them "come 

 in," annually. 



There is another method of obtaining con- 

 stant milkers, which has been extensively 

 practiced in France, and known to some ex- 

 tent in this country. This is by spaying 

 the cow some four or six weeks atl;er calv- 

 ing, and thus by preventing impregnation, 

 securing the cow in milk for several years. 

 In the London Veterinarian may be found a 

 paper by M. Rogere of Bordeaux, in France, 

 who had, for many years, been engaged in a 

 series of experiments on this subject, that 

 had been eminently successful. The cows 

 operated upon were of various ages, some 

 quite old. The operation of spaying was 

 followed with a restricted diet, to prevent 

 the tendency to. inflammation. This had the 

 effect of reduciug the quantity of milk for 

 few days, but the flow soon returned, and 

 continued unaffected for a long time. No 

 danger was incurred by the operation when 

 skilfully performed, and when from age or 

 failure of milk, it became desirable to make 

 beef of the animal, she was found altogether 

 superior for that purpose to the unspayed 

 ones. 



In one of the earlier volumes of Ruffin's 

 Farmer's Register, may be found a paper on 

 spaying cows or heifers, not only tor milk, 

 but for feeding. Mr. Tabb of Virginia, under 

 whose superintendence the operations were 

 conducted, confirms the representations made 

 of the value of milch cows so operated upon, 

 but thinks it not less essentia] or important, 

 where cows or heifers are to be fed. The 

 following extract is from Mr. Tabb's paper: 

 " The operation is performed on heifers not 

 intended for milk, when they are about a 

 year old, and with the single precaution of 

 keeping them entirely from food or water 



during twenty-four or thirty-six hours pre- 

 vious — is not attended with the least risk — 

 is performed in the same way, and may be 

 done by any person in the habit of spaying 

 pigs. They go to their food immediately 

 after, and require no attention. We select 

 the most indifferent heifers to spaj^ which is 

 one way to improve the stock. You increase 

 the size amazingly. They gradijally become 

 as large as ordinary oxen — are easily kept — 

 make the finest beef — and as they are not in 

 perfection until six or seven years old, we 

 work them after three or four, to make them 

 gentle, and for that purpose, consider them 

 superior to the ox." 



The practice of working milch cows is 

 common in Germany, as appears from the 

 accounts of various travellers in that coun- 

 try ; and teams of spayed heifers have car- 

 ried off" prizes at tl;e ploughing matches of 

 Agricultural Societies in Engkind. The 

 suggestion made above, by Mr. Tabb, as to 

 the practice of spaying having a good effect 

 in the improvements of stock, is an import- 

 ant one. - If the breeders of stock could so 

 far forego the hope of immediate profit, 

 as to be willing to submit all inferior, or 

 part blood bull calves to castration, and all 

 inferior heifers to spaying, it is evident the 

 chances of breeding inferior animals would 

 diminish rapidly. 



Mr. Winn, keeper of an extensive hotel 

 at Natchez, communicated to Judge Peter.s, 

 of Pa., the result of experiments made by 

 him in spaying cows, for the purpose of se- 

 curing permanent milkers. It appears from 

 the paper as given in the Transactions of the 

 Pennsylvania Agricultural Society, that he 

 had two cows, which atler being spayed, gave 

 milk constantly for three years each. He 

 preferred cows that had produced two or 

 three calves, as the bags of such would be 

 more capacious than if spayed after the first 

 calf. It is hoped some of our breeders or 

 farmers will try this experiment, since if 

 successful there can be no doubt such cows 

 would command greatly advanced prices in 

 places where cows are kept for their milk 

 alone. — Cultivator. 



Hoven Cattle. 



One of the most singular cases of hoove 

 that we have on record, is contained in one 

 of the French periodicals. A cow that had 

 been turned into the pasture in perfect 

 health, was found in the course of the morn- 

 ing, labouring under great excitation, mak- 

 ing frequent and violent efi^iarts to vomit, 

 and then galloping over tiie field with her 

 mouth half open, and the saliva running 

 from it as if she were mad. The eyes weie 

 haggard and fixed, and starting from their 



