184 THE DAIRYMAK*S MANTJAL. 



calf after this, and comes to her milk without any of the 

 common difficulties of holding up the milk, sore teats, 

 etc., which appertain to cows suckling calves. The food 

 given is dry liay with the usual warm bran mash, until 

 the fourth day, after which the cow goes back to her 

 place in the stable and is gradually brought up to her 

 full feeding. Large milking cows very often have the 

 udder hard, and milk very little for the first and second 

 days. This is the natural condition of the udder of a 

 newly calved cow, the glandular substance of which is 

 excited but has not yet come into action. In a short 

 time the glands get to work and begin -to secrete milk 

 copiously, and then the udder softens down and comes 

 into a natural condition again. There is no reason to 

 fuss over the hard udder the first or second day and to 

 apprehend trouble, and as long as the udder is free from 

 inflammation and extreme tenderness there need be no 

 anxiety. When the chapter on milk is reached, this 

 condition of the udder will be explained, and it will be 

 seen that it is naturally to be expected from the neces- 

 sities of the case. To attempt by unnecessary fomenta- 

 tion, or the use of exciting applications, to remove this 

 supposed trouble in the udder, is to most likely cause the 

 very result one is apprehending and trying to avoid. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



REARING CALVES FOR THE DAIRY. 



The calves are the means for the improvement of the 

 dairy. By a gradual course of breeding, rearing, and de- 

 velopment the calves become the basis for all the skill 

 of the dairyman's work in improving his stock and in in- 

 creasing their valuable product. Breed is made up of 

 feed and the most skillful care, and by judicious manage- 



