THE OX AND THE DAIRY 



It is a common custom to breed from heifers at too early 

 an age ; this is to spoil the cow. The heifer should not be 

 under two years old when taken to the bull ; and even then 

 it is as well to let her go dry sooner than older cows; 

 indeed, if she be younger, this is imperative ; for the tax upon 

 the immature animal by the calf she has borne, and the 

 drainage of the milk from the system subsequently, tend to 

 arrest her growth and due development. A young heifer, 

 moreover, cannot be expected to produce a fine calf. 



The above observations apply more particularly to the poor 

 industrious cottager, who, with small means at command, 

 wishes to keep a cow on the best plan : he has no extent of 

 grazing land ; commons generally afford but scanty food, and 

 are for the most part overstocked ; besides, he may not have 

 the opportunity of availing himself of a common ; and the 

 plan of road-side and by-lane grazing cannot be commended, 

 even on the ground of the habits of idleness entailed upon 

 the boy who spends his day in watching the animal, and 

 driving her from one spot to another, or from ditch to ditch, 

 where the bank holds out a prospect of a tolerable supply. But 

 if the cottager can rent a small piece of ground and has time to 

 cultivate it himself, so as to make it produce greater crops of 

 iye, tares, clover, lucern, cabbages, beet-root, potatoes, arid 

 turnips, to be raised in succession and cut for his cow, 

 confined in a cow-house, except while taking exercise in her 

 little paddock, or perhaps, a small orchard, he may certainly 

 make it answer his purpose. If near a large town, he will 

 have a certain sale for all his milk. His own family will 

 need a supply ; but from this the cream may be taken, and 

 ,sold to advantage. He may find it advantageous to make 

 butter ; which, as fresh butter sells, ought to bring in a return 

 of ten or twelve pounds per annum, leaving the buttermilk 

 j|br the use of the family, the rearing of a calf, and the fatten 

 ing of a hog. After all, however, the affirmative to the 

 question, whether it is profitable for the cottager to keep a 

 cow, will depend on the contingencies of locality; the spare 

 time he has on his hands ; the assistance his family can 

 render him ; the facilities of disposing the produce to advan- 

 tage ; and the amount of primary outlay he must necessarily 

 encounter; together with the rent of the ground. Where 

 a cottager depends solely on a small piece of land for the 

 support of himself and his family, and for the payment of 

 rent, then indeed his cow is of the utmost "importance, if 



