GENERAL CARE OF CATTLE. 337 



the time of calving in the development attained 

 by an animal. Calves which are dropped in 

 the late fall and early winter can rarely com- 

 pete at eighteen months old with those calved 

 in the spring. When the equation of one calf's 

 life is made up of two winters and a summer 

 it can hardly be expected to compare favorably 

 with that of another which is made up of two 

 summers and a winter. Hence, full allowances 

 must always be made for such things. In a 

 colder climate, too, maturity is retarded; in a 

 warmer climate it is hastened. I speak for my 

 own latitude and give only an average. It will 

 rarely be found advisable to delay the time of 

 breeding so late as until the heifer is twenty- 

 four months old. Two years old is late enough 

 to be a little risky and more time may be lost 

 by several services being required to get such a 

 heifer to stand, if no more serious evil results. 

 Of course no heifer ought to be pushed into the 

 drains of motherhood till her development is 

 sufficient to warrant it, but few heifers are so 

 backward as not to be quite prepared for such 

 drains by the time they are thirty months old. 

 Wherever practicable young heifers should 

 be bred to young bulls. Old bulls are in most 

 cases too heavy to be safe, and serious dangers 

 are often incurred by breeding to them. I have 

 had heifers killed by the service of a heavy old 

 bull, and less serious injuries are more com- 



