GENERAL CAKE OF CATTLE. 319 



exceptional cases the weaning may be advan- 

 tageously delayed a little beyond that age. 



Earlier than six months I am quite sure it is 

 unwise to wean calves intended for breeding 

 purposes. Milk is the natural diet and they 

 thrive on it better than on anything else, and 

 not till the calves are fully of that age are they 

 able to do thoroughly well without it and to 

 thrive on solid food. The weaning time is in a 

 great degree a crisis in the calf's life. If cut 

 off from nature's diet too early bad results not 

 infrequently ensue; but if allowed to go on to 

 that period at which in the natural sequence of 

 events the calf would find his milk ration 

 more and more insufficient and his capacity to 

 eat more and more perfect everyday, the transi- 

 tion, instead of being violent, is at once natural 

 and easy, and therefore without injurious con- 

 sequences. The great thing is to keep the 

 growth of the calf from suffering any check. 

 If this growth goes right along all is well. If, 

 however, the weaning is followed by a period 

 of pining and real need of the milk diet, and 

 the calf is for a few weeks unthrifty, the effect 

 will be apparent in the animal's after-life, for 

 these short periods of retardation in early life 

 count up largely in the sum. This is not an 

 easy matter to impress upon many men, and 

 yet an animal that has an unbroken calfhood of 

 thrifty growth will mature earlier and develop 



