CHAPTER VI. 



Our Herd. 



Having bought ourselves a good kitchen stove 

 and various kitchen utensils in Nelson, and several 

 pieces of second-hand furniture from the people living 

 in the house at the Bonnington ranch, we went out to 

 take possession of our new property. I had already 

 bought from the former owner of the ranch the whole 

 of his herd of cattle, numbering in all seven head — 

 namely, three cows, a calf, a young bull, a young 

 steer, and a young heifer. These animals were, of 

 course, kept under cover during the winter, so long 

 as the snow lay on the ground. But it was now the 

 middle of April, the snow had already disappeared, 

 and the animals were being allowed to range at will 

 all over the ranch— that is, through the woods and 

 along the hillsides. There was a certain amount of 

 clover and grass, which they knew how to find; 

 but they lived to a considerable extent upon the 

 young foliage of the trees and shrubs. And though 

 we were at times able to detect the flavour of their 

 food in the milk, it was never so disagreeable that we 

 were unable to drink it. The rest of the herd used to 

 accompany the cows when they came home of an 

 evening to be milked. We kept them in ihc stable 



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