834 



CATTLE-BREEDINGS 



that which precedes and that which follows. 

 Soon after it is a year old the animal is treated 

 with a view to the approach of the time when 

 she shall be bred; as when once she has assumed 

 the duties of motherhood, though not yet in 

 most cases mature, or to be fully mature for 

 two years or more, she is fairly become a cow. 

 The aim in life of the heifer, then, is reproduc- 

 tion of her kind, and the treatment she is to 

 meet with must always have this idea in view. 

 To make life one unvarying round is, therefore, 

 the great object. Monotony is no wearing thing 

 in an animal's life story; on the contrary, when 

 made up of unvarying comfort and plenty, and 

 a strict avoidance of every disturbing element, 

 it is the ideal life for the dumb brute ; the sum- 

 mum bomim of the purely physical existence. 

 This is no easy thing to attain. Men are not 

 machines, neither are cattle. You cannot set 

 a man, as you can a wheat drill, so that he will 

 give out just so much, no more, no less, through- 

 out the year; nor can you regulate the stock to 

 eat just one amount daily, or to be contented 

 and thrifty on a single kind of food. We must 

 deal with them as individuals ; we must look 

 constantly to see that each has enough without 

 having too much. That the heifer maintains 

 good flesh and good health ; that she does not 

 grow too fat in summer nor too lean in winter, 

 or at any other time of year. That, in short, 



