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animal. If exceptionally large and strong, breeding at 18 months 

 will do no harm; if rather backward, impregnation had better be put 

 off till two years old. 



TREATMENT DURING FIRST PERIOD OF GESTATION. 



The last nine months before calving should see the budding 

 matron given every consideration likely to make for her future 

 success as a dairy cow. Kindly treatment, frequent handling, abun- 

 dant, nutritious and at the same time bulky food, with considerable 

 meal the last few weeks, will surely give good results. The heifer 

 should come to the calving in good flesh and with the udder large, 

 full and firm. 



As the time of parturition approaches, the feeding of the heifer 

 should be plain, without stimulating foods that might have a dele- 

 terious effect on the foetus and cause abortion. Good clean hay 

 from clover or mixed grasses, corn fodder and corn ensilage or 

 roots should constitute the main portion of her diet. 



TREATMENT DURING THE FIRST PERIOD OF LACTATION. 



Directly after calving, a warm, thin slop of oatmeal, bran or 

 shorts should be given, or, where the cow is weak or exhausted, warm 

 water only. For a few days, omtil the danger of fever is over, the 

 ration should be very light, and gradually increased for two or three 

 weeks, when the heifer may be put on full feed. 



A heifer with her first calf should receive special care and be 

 fed liberally since she is growing and producing milk at the same 

 time. A good supply of protein must be furnished in her ration to 

 meet the requirements of the body for nitrogenous food components. 



If the heifer be not bred again until some six months after the 

 dropping of her first calf, she will be free to devote all her energies 

 to the production of milk. This would tend to the establishment of 

 the l milking habit/ 



SPRING OR FALL CALVING. 



The question of spring or fall calving is one that so far as the 

 relative merits of the two systems are concerned, can have but one 

 answer, and that is that the cow should freshen at the season when 

 her services are likely to be of the greatest use to the owner. So far 

 as records are concerned, however, it is practically certain that, under 

 average conditions in Canada, much better year-long records are 

 likely to be made when the cow comes in in early aiuitumn than when 



