93 THE COW 



winter, to emerge nearly a year later as a big fat 

 repulsive grub. Big as they are, they do not seem 

 to cause cattle any particular annoyance. It may 

 be added that their life history as worked out by 

 the entomologists is one of the most marvelous of 

 Nature's strange miracles. The bot-fly seems to 

 be quite local in its distribution. On the home 

 pastures at Hillside Farm we never find it, but 

 cattle sent to an outlying pasture two miles away 

 are sure to return bearing a crop of bots that will 

 become prominent in late winter. 



Occasionally the torment from insect pests be- 

 comes so maddening that the whole herd will start 

 on a gallop across the field, each cow carrying her 

 tail aloft like a banner. These rushes are appar- 

 ently a desperate effort to leave behind or shake 

 off their tormentors. Fortunately we are able to 

 give cows some measure of relief by lightly spray- 

 ing the body, especially the parts that cannot be 

 reached by the tail, once each day with some one of 

 the numerous commercial fly repellents. An ex- 

 penditure of fifty cents a cow each season for time 

 and material will do much to mitigate an annoy- 

 ance that is very costly both in milk and flesh. 



Flies disappear after a few sharp frosts, but in 

 winter their place is taken by two or more species 

 of lice. These vermin are no respecters of persons 

 and are sometimes troublesome in the best stables. 

 They may become so bad as to cause cows to rub 

 raw and bleeding patches on the skin in the effort 



