CHAH. v. MANAGEMENT OF DAIRY COWS. 123 



fatigued ; some beasts, however, are naturally disposed to this weakness. 

 The placenta, or cleansing, should be first removed, after which the 

 operator may replace the calf-bed as gently and as quickly as possible, 

 and secure it in its situation by the application of proper bandages. 

 This likewise demands, in the majority of cases, the assistance of a well- 

 educated and skilful practitioner, The animal should afterwards be 

 kept as quiet as possible. Opium, or febrifuge medicines, as nitre and 

 fox-glove, with gruel and mashes, may be administered ; but the 

 stimulating drinks too often given in these cases must be avoided, as 

 pregnant with the greatest danger. 



When the calf-bed comes down, and no immediate aid can be pro- 

 cured, it should be deposited on and covered with a clean linen sheet; the 

 irritation thereby produced being considerably less than that of the air, 

 litter, &c. Before it is replaced, the parts that have been so exposed 

 should be well cleansed with warm water, to which, if there be much 

 bleeding, or any appearance of mortification, a little spirit may be 

 added. 



After calving, the cow should not be permitted to take the bull until 

 four or five weeks have elapsed, although she may exhibit symptoms of 

 bulling sooner. The womb is, during that time, in so relaxed a state 

 as seldom to admit of conception. 1 



In high-class dairying the object, so far as the cows are concerned, 

 is two-fold : first, to obtain the largest yield with the highest quality of 

 milk ; secondly, to keep the cow in such a way that, while this the first 

 object is gained, she will be maintained in good condition; so that either 

 when " dried off" or set aside from dairy purposes she will be ready for 

 the butcher, or can be quickly made so. 



These two objects were for long, and indeed are now by many, 

 deemed incompatible ; so that all that was aimed at was to get as much 

 milk as possible out of the cow in a given time, and then send her off 

 to the butcher " for what she would bring." Under the improved and 

 modern system of dairying, it is found that the two objects are quite 

 compatible, and that they can be secured. 



To succeed in this, considerable knowledge and skill are required, and 

 no small amount of patient painstaking care. In the first place the 

 animals selected should be first-rate milkers, this being the primary 

 point ; but as they have to be sold to the butcher in good condition, 

 some of the points of fattening beasts must be found in them. But 

 while the latter features must not be neglected, the primary object, as 

 stated above, is to get milkers of the first class. 



It is right, however, to state that there are those, and eminently good 

 dairymen too, who hold that dairying, for the double purpose of getting 

 the maximum of milk both as regards quantity and quality, together 

 with beef- procuring capacities, cannot be carried on at a profit, that just 

 as you secure the one, so in like, or perhaps even in greater, proportion, 

 you lose the other. They therefore answer in the negative question, 

 Can we get a breed which will yield at once milk and beef in the highest 



1 See "Skellett on the Parturition of the Cow," which contains much valuable informa- 

 tion on the subject of difficult births. 



