AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 439 



feeding and good winter keeping they are always fit at one year 

 old, and if I were to put them at that early age they would come 

 soon to profit, but I usually wait until they are two years old, 

 which brings them in at three without in any way stinting their 

 growth. Unless your animals are remarkably well kept they will 

 not take the bull either at one or two years old. This operation 

 should be so timed that the heifer will calve when there is a bite 

 of grass, particularly when she has her first calf, this causes her 

 to be a better milker afterwards, in consequence of the secretion 

 of milk being more completely established. Cows in calf require 

 to be well fed in winter and kept warm, they should on no ac- 

 count be exposed to wet and cold, this will induce them to calve 

 with great facility, take the bull readily at the proper season, and 

 add much to their milking qualities. Foddering such stock with 

 straw, the usual practice, should be avoided. The bull should 

 be well fed, and not used until he is two yeai-s old, he will then 

 be vigorous until five yeai'S old. If put to cows at one year old, 

 the present practice, he will loose his energy at. three years old. 

 He should always be kept in an inclosure, and have the cows 

 brought to him. 



In rearing young bulls, my practice has been to allow the calf 

 to remain with the dam until eight months old, during a small 

 portion of which period he will take the milk of two cows, when 

 he eats grass his dam affords him a full supply. This appears to 

 be an expensive way of raising stock, but I can assure the breeder 

 that it will amply remunerate him to raise all his calves in this 

 manner. At the State Fair in 1844, my calf at eight months old 

 was awarded the first premium. She remained with the dam 

 until she was two years old, when she weighed nearly two thou- 

 sand pounds. The mother of this animal gave twenty-eight 

 quarts of milk per day. In raising oxen, they should be allowed 

 the milk of two cows until four months old, then the milk of 

 their dam until eight months, after which skim milk fed by hand 

 for the period of one year, and then never stinted in winter or 

 summer. At one year old they should be brought into training; 

 at two years old yoked, and made to follow an old team; at three 

 years old worked lightly, and at four years ^Id they will do more 

 work, and endure more hardships, than any three yoke of cattle 

 raised in the ordinary manner. An ox will never reach a large 

 size unless he is worked. Take two calves and feed them pre- 

 cisely alike until they are three years old, then put one to work, 

 and permit the other to remain idle until six years old, still feed- 



