52 IMPROVEMENT OF THE BEEED. 



put it into practice, with results that were eminently 

 satisfactory. 



Mr Watson would seem to have been a careful, liberal, 

 and successful feeder, as well as a skilful breeder. A few 

 years after starting his herd, he commenced the practice of 

 allowing calves to suckle cows in the house, and found 

 that it produced excellent results. This plan is described 

 by himself as follows : " The cows intended for nursing 

 generally calve early in the season, about the month of 

 January or February, when a stranger calf is procured 

 from some of the small tenants in the district who have 

 dairies. This calf is suckled with the others by the same 

 cow ; and although the cow at first shows great dislike to 

 the stranger, in a few days she receives it very quietly, 

 care being taken that both are put to suck (one on each 

 side) exactly at the same time by tying the calves' bands 

 to the stall or the band of the cow, so as to keep each calf 

 at its own side. They remain with the cow for fifteen or 

 twenty minutes, by which time her milk is perfectly 

 drawn away. As the calves advance in age they eat hay, 

 sliced potatoes, porridge, and other food that they are 

 inclined to take. By the 1st of May, or as soon as grass 

 is ready, they are weaned and turned out from the byre, 

 when two fresh calves are immediately put into their stalls 

 and receive the same treatment, excepting that they are 

 turned out at twelve o'clock, after they have got their 

 suck, to eat grass, and are brought into the byre again in 

 the evening, when the cows come in to be sucked. This 

 set is ready to wean by the 1st of August, and a single 

 calf is put into the feeding-pen and fattened for the butcher, 

 the season being now too late for rearing. As these are 

 fed off, the cows are let off milk, having each suckled Jive 

 calves. It is necessary to have a very careful and steady 

 person to attend to the suckling, which has to be done 

 three times a-day viz., early in the morning before the 

 cows are turned out to grass, at mid-day, and in the 



