Book VII. REARING OF HORNED CATTLE. 1021 



weight of meat for the food they consume, and to contain the least proportion of oflfkli are not those which 

 possess, in the highest degree, the strength and activity required in tl)e beasts of labour. 



6819. A disposition to fatten, and a tendency toyield a large quantity of milk, cannot be united. The form 

 of the animal most remarkable for the first, is very diiferent from that of the other ; in place of being flat 

 in the sides, and big in the belly, as all great milkers are, it is high-sided and light-bellied : in a word, the 

 body of the animal well adapted to fatten is barrel-formed, while that of the milker is widest downwards. 

 It is not probable, therefore, that the properties of two breeds of cattle, so opposite in form and general 

 appearance, can ever be united in the same animal 



6820. The long and short horned breeds have hitherto been in possession of the best part of the island ; 

 but various others, as the Ayrshire, the Galloway cattle, and kyloes, might be bred with advantage in 

 many situations, so as to be more profitable than either the short-horns or the long-horns. These breeds 

 of cattle, as true quick-feeders, and being kindly-fleshed, or excellent eating beef, have established their 

 character in the first market in the island. The Scotch or kyloes are better adapted to cold, exposed, 

 heathy, mountainous situations, than any other breed we have. Particular breeds are probably best 

 adapted to particular situations; on which ground, breeders of cattle should endeavour to find out what 

 breed is the most profitable and best suited to their situations, and to improve that breed to the utmost, 

 rather than to try to unite the particular qualities of two or more distinct breeds by crossing. The latter 

 is a precarious practice ; for we generally find the produce inherit the coarseness of both breeds, and rarely 

 attain the good properties which the pure distinct breeds individually possess. In order to have good 

 cattle of any breed, particular regard must be paid in selecting those that are the most complete and perfect 

 in their form, shape, and other qualities, and to breed from them. 



6821. An extraordinary degree of attention has been paid to the breeding of cattle in England since the 

 time of Bakewell, and some illustrious names might be mentioned in addition to those of professional 

 farmers. Pedigrees of the best cattle have been preserved with no less care, in several places, than those 

 of race horses ; and, in the selection of breeders, the properties of the family from which they have de- 

 scended are matters of scarcely less importance than the form of the young animals themselves. The 

 extraordinary prices paid for the best-bred bulls and cows show that this attention has not been without 

 its reward. 



6822. The best bulls are either let out for the season, or cows are brought to them at a certain rate per 

 head. The practice of letting bulls is said to have originated with Bakewell {Marshal's Midland Counties, 

 vol. i. p. 334.), who, early in his career, let a bull for one hundred and fifty-two guineas, to be used only 

 four months {Parkinson, vol. ii. p. 469.) j and five guineas per cow were about that time commonly paid to 

 him and other eminent breeders. 



fiSS"/. The age at which bulls should begin to be employed, and the number of seasons they should be 

 allowed to serve, as well as the ageatwliich the females should begin to breed, are points regarding which 

 practice is by no means uniform. In the midland counties, the bulls are pretty commonly allowed to leap 

 while yearlings ; and if good stock-getters are kept on as long as they will do business, perhaps till they are 

 ten or twelve years old. In other places they are employed only three seasons, for the first time at two 

 years old. Tlie females, in many instances, bring their first calf at the age of two years, but more com, 

 monly, perhaps, not till they are a year older; and in some of the Highland districts, where, owing to a 

 want of proper nourishment in their infancy, they are later in coming to their full growth, the females do 

 not often become mothers till they are about four years old. 



6824. The period of gestation with cows has been found, upon an average of a great number of experi. 

 ments, to be about forty weeks. M. Tessier communicated to the National Institute of France the fol. 

 lowing observations on this subject : Of 160 cows, 14 calved from the 241st to the 266th day ; 3 on the 

 270th ; 50 on the 280th ; 68 on from the 280th to the 290th ; 20 on the SOOth ; and 5 on the 30Sth. Cows 

 seldom bring more tlian one calf at a time. When they produce twins, one of them a male and the other 

 a female, the latter, which is called a free martin, is commonly considered to be incapable of procreation ; 

 yet there seem to have been well authenticated instances to the contrary. {Farmer's Magazine, voL vii. 

 p. 462. ; and vol. viii. p. 466.) 



6825. The most desirable period for putting cows to the bull is midsummer, in order that they maybe 

 dropped in spring, and have the whole of the grass season before them. Where no regular system is fol- 

 lowed, and cows are sent to the bull merely because they are in heat, calves will be dropped at all seasons; 

 but, except in those districts where the fatting of calves is an object of importance, spring is probably the 

 most advantageous time; as the calves, having all the grass season before them, become sufficiently 

 strong for enduring the change to a less agreeable food in the ensuing winter. A calf newly weaned 

 seldom thrives well during that period, unless it is pampered with better food than usually falls to the 

 share of young animals. By midsummer the cows are readier to take the bull than at any other season, 

 and will bring calves in proper time. If a cow goes till after May before she calves, the calf will be too 

 weak in the winter following; and the dam will not be so ready to take the bull again, but will often grow 

 barren. 



6826. It is not always the best milch cow that has the best calf, even though the external circumstances 

 should be similar ; and vice versa, a sorry cow may have a good calf. These remarks apply to this breed 

 as well as to others. The immetliate progeny of a good milker may be an indifferent milch cow ; but in 

 the second remove, the good milking quality of the grandam returns. This has often been observed, 

 and without any of the causes being imputable to the size. {Robertson, v. bll.) '" ** i/i : " ^"j;"'-'^';, 



iiuol ->Ai ,<4i iKAi .ib;- 

 SuB.sECT. 4. Rearing of Homed Cattle. ""<!' -.oi -Ui 



6827. The mode of rearing calves is various. There can be little doubt but that the best and most natural 

 mode is that of allowing them to suck their dams, at least for some length of time after they are brought 

 forth. 



6828. In Yorkshire, and most parts of Scotland, the usual method is to give them milk to drink, there 

 being few instances where they are allowed to suck. For the first two or three weeks, they mostly get 

 milk warm from the cow ; but for the next two or three weeks, half the new milk is withdrawn, and 

 skim-milk substituted in its stead ; and at the end of that period, the new milk is wholly withdrawn : they 

 are then fed on skim-milk alone, or sometimes mixed with water, till they are able to support themselves 

 by eating grass, or other food of that sort. 



6829. In Cheshire, the practice is to allow the calves to sunk for the first three weeks. They are then 

 fed on warm new whey, or scalded whey and buttermilk mixed ; with the green whey water is frequently 

 mixed, and either oatmeal or wheat and bean flour added. A quart of meal or flour is thought sufficient 

 to mix with forty or fifty quarts of liquid. Oatmeal gruel and buttermilk, with an addition of skimmed 

 milk, are also used for the same purpose. Some one of these prepared kinds of food is given, night and 

 morning, for a few weeks after the calves are put on that diet, but afterwards only once a day till they are 

 three months old or more. 



6830. In Gloucestershire the calves are not allowed to suck above two or three days ; they are then fed 

 on skim-milk, which is previously heated over the fire. When they arrive at such an age as to be able 

 to eat a little, they are allowed split beans, or oats and cut hay, and water is mixed with the milk. 



6831. In Sussex it is common to allow the calves to suck for ten or twelve weeks, or to wean them at the 

 end of three or four, and give them a liberal allowance of skim-milk for six or eight weeks longer. 



6832. In Middlesex it is usual, in rearing calves, to give them a pailful, containing about a gallon, of 

 milk warm from the cow, morning and evening, for eight or ten weeks ; or, which is certainly the most 



