GENERAL CARE OF CATTLE. 315 



provision should be made for a safe arrival and 

 warm reception. Especially in cold and stormy 

 weather is this necessary, and when the dam's 

 labor is long and difficult. In some such cases 

 it requires not infrequently considerable per- 

 suasion to get the little stranger to actively 

 assume the duties of life. In all such cases the 

 cow should be put in a warm, sheltered spot, 

 or if this should be neglected, it should be done 

 as soon as the calf is dropped. In warm and 

 fair weather this is of course unnecessary; my 

 experience in this, as in all else, being that the 

 more natural and inartificial the life the cattle 

 lead, the better they thrive. Under all circum- 

 stances it is important to see that the calf is 

 properly dried. In bad weather unless this is 

 done,, a chill, which may result seriously, will 

 almost always occur. Nature has provided her 

 method for this, and the cow will in almost 

 every case, do her duty and lick her produce 

 dry. But should she fail to do this, as some- 

 times occurs, especially in the case of young 

 heifers with their first calves, the calf must be 

 looked after. In almost every case it is only 

 necessary to attract the dam's attention to her 

 offspring, when, the maternal instinct being 

 thereby awakened, she will do her duty. Often- 

 times it is only necessary to place the calf where 

 she will see it. Sometimes a little meal or bran 

 sprinkled over the calf laid in front of the 



