146 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK i. 



the calf. As soon as the animal perceives the light it advances 

 towards it, and thrusts out its head, which the suckler puts into the 

 pail. Being taught thus to drink the milk, it very soon gets fat, and 

 much more quickly so than by either of our modes, in which the calf is 

 usually tied up, or is permitted to run about in an open place. The 

 Dutch farmers hang up a piece of chalk near the door for the animal 

 to lick ; and the pen is so contrived as to height that, when the calf is 

 about to be removed, and the door of the suckling-house is open, it 

 falls down on the tail of the cart, and the animal walks in and is 

 secured. The floor of the Dutch calf-pens is a lattice-work, so that it 

 is always dry. 1 



The practice is admirably adapted for fattening calves for the 

 butcher, for which quietude is absolutely requisite; but where the 

 object in rearing them is to keep them as stock, it probably will be 

 found more conducive to their health to turn them into a sheltered 

 paddock or yard, only housing them at night. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

 OF STEERS AND DRAUGHT OXEN. 



TIHE following description of the " points " of an ox is both interesting 

 and instructive : 



" The head should be fine and tapering to the muzzle, which should 

 be thin. The neck should be free from coarseness, large where attached 

 to the shoulder, and tapering to where it joins the head. The breast 

 should be wide, and projecting well in front of the fore-limbs. The 

 shoulder should be broad, but joining without abruptness to the neck 

 before and the chine behind. The back and loins should be straight, 

 wide, and flat; the girth behind the shoulders should be large, the ribs 

 well arched, and the distance between the last rib and the hook-bone 

 small. The hook-bones should be far apart, and nearly on a level with 

 the backbone from the hook-bone to the rump ; the quarters should be 

 long and straight ; the belly should not hang down ; the flank should be 

 well filled up ; the legs should be fleshy to the knee and hock, but 

 below the joints they should be tendinous. The tail should be on a level 

 with the back ; broad at the top, and tapering to near the extremity. 

 The hoofs should be small ; the horns fine and pointed, and slightly 

 attached to the head ; the ears thin ; the eyes prominent and lively." : 



The use of oxen for the purpose of draught is now nearly given up 

 in this country. Occasionally, in the Scotch Highlands, a small 

 crofter may be seen ploughing with a cow yoked alongside a Sheltie, or 



1 " Malcolm's Compendium of Modern Husbandry," vol. i. p. 354. 



2 " Low's Practical Agriculture." 



