CHAP. ii. TETHERING, SOILING, AND PASTURING OF COWS. 249 



beneficial, and in the day they are not scorched by the rays of a hot 

 summer's sun, nor are they tormented by the flies, especially the ox 

 warble flies, that are so active in the daylight. 



The most general practice in the British Isles, particularly in the 

 Midlands and the North, is to have cows out in the pastures, day 

 and night alike, from May to November. Tethering is not employed 

 very much anywhere, save in the Channel Islands and in a few 

 places in the south of England; it involves a good deal of trouble, 

 for the cows need watching, and moving, and watering, pretty frequently, 

 in addition to milking. The system economises grass, no doubt, but 

 not to so great an extent as in the system called " Soiling," that is, 

 cutting all the grass and green crops, and carting them to the sheds, 

 to be consumed there by the cows. There can be no dispute on the 

 point of waste of grass, whe/e cattle roam at large on the land, though 

 the actual waste is less than many men think, except in wet seasons. 

 It becomes, indeed, a question of relative profitableness, as to whether 

 the waste in grazing is equal to the cost of cutting and carting the food 

 to the sheds. This is a problem which every farmer may solve for 

 himself, according to circumstances. But in any case there can be no 

 question that cattle are healthier on the pastures than in the sheds ; 

 and as they must be in the sheds during the winter, it is perhaps best, 

 all points considered, that they should be on the pastures when 

 they may, in spring, summer, and autumn. 



In boisterous weather, whenever it may occur, cows should be shel- 

 tered, or else they will at once fall off in milk. But the shelter need 

 not necessarily take the form of sheds, if only good fences and planta- 

 tions are available. In winter there is no alternative, and cows must 

 be housed all the time, save in warm and sheltered localities. Exercise, 

 however, even in winter, is always a good thing, if only in walking a 

 short distance to the water, twice a day. Some people advocate open 

 sheds for dairy cattle, attached to warm yards ; others loose boxes, one 

 for each cow ; and yet others recommend stalls, in which the cows stand 

 side by side, tied by the neck. The latter plan economises litter and 

 room much better, and on the whole is cleaner, than either of the 

 others. Cows in stalls need no litter to lie on, even when the stalls 

 are paved with stone or brick, if only a layer of clay be put under 

 the fore-feet, to soften the place for her knees, when the cow lies down 

 and rises up. Litter, indeed, in the form of straw, is too valuable, as 

 a rule, in these days, to be used for cattle to lie upon, and it may be 

 declared with authority that they will do very well without it. 



Cow-houses are variously arranged. The most convenient are known 

 as double sheds, under which arrangement two rows of cattle stand tail 

 to tail, and each of these rows head to head with another row ; where 

 they are tail to tail, a roadway and two manure gutters are between 

 them, and where head to head a gangway or "fodder bing." The 

 dimensions of the stalls may be the following, for large cows : seven 

 feet long, including manger, and six feet six inches wide ; this will 

 serve for two cows, with a short partition between them at the manger. 

 The space occupied by the two manure gutters and the path between 



