STOCK. 173 



Keeping op Cows. — We consider that the cow that goes 

 through the summer on the same pasture, with no extra feed, 

 is more valuable than one that is fed extra, yet gives no greater 

 amount of milk or butter than the first, or not enough greater 

 to equal the value of the feed. 



We would not be understood to recommend farmers not to 

 feed extra ; by no means ; on the contrary, we wish all owners 

 of cows would so feed and care for them that their milk pro- 

 duct should be kept at the highest point consistent with the 

 health and thrift of the animal. 



There are times in the season when all cows fall off rapidly, 

 unless a good deal of precaution is used, and after this shrink- 

 age it is almost impossible to bring them up to their former 

 quantity. 



Exposure through a whole day to a cold rain storm is one of 

 those periods. People seem to think that cattle must remain 

 out all day because it is customary to keep them in the pasture 

 in summer ; that " putting up " would make them tender — 

 not, however, fearing any bad results to themselves as they put 

 on a thick coat and draw around the fire, while the cows stand 

 curled and shivering, refusing to feed or be comforted, except 

 by the warm shelter of the barn. 



Many farmers do not realize how rapidly the grass in pastures 

 is consumed. When the growth is checked by a drouth, the 

 cows soon find very " poor picking ; " yet how steadily they 

 will work all the " livelong day," seeking out and cropping the 

 little green patches here and there to be seen among the rocks, 

 bushes, and parched June grass, which are the chief products of 

 our pastures during a dry time. The cows seem to have a kind 

 of ambition to bring up at night their usual bountiful supply of 

 delicious milk, but how often is the amount of material insuffi- 

 cient to produce a generous yield. Day by day they grow 

 thinner in flesh, showing that a severe draft upon the system is 

 going on, and every night they look most beseechingly to their 

 owner for a morsel of green fodder or hay to supply the demands 

 of nature. 



Will you blame them if, in this emergency, they break down 

 a strip of rotten fence while reaching to obtain a fresh bite of 

 luscious grass, or even jump over a poor old wall which has 

 sunk into the ground fully one-third of its original height of 



