Practical herd management 1025 



He should also be a good and impartial judge, and 

 as quick to see the defects in his own cattle as in 

 those of others. One who gets so enraptured with 

 his own as to think they are the only pebbles on the 

 beach is sure to be a bad loser, or as Burns puts it: 

 If nature 'd but the 'giftie gie us, to see oursels as 

 ithers see us.' Eternal vigilance must be the fit- 

 ter's watchword, and regularity and system cut no 

 small figure in the game. 



"Having selected the prospective winners and 

 provided comfortable quarters, a light, well-venti- 

 lated basement, with well-bedded, roomy boxstalls, 

 makes a nice place and he should be ready for busi- 

 ness. In fly time the windows may be curtained 

 through the heat of the day, and no unnecessary 

 disturbance should be allowed around. 



"I think that the calves are the easiest fitted mem- 

 bers of the herd, 'and I shall touch on them first. 

 Given plenty of milk and a mixture of grains, if 

 they are of the right kind they will put on plenty 

 of bloom. Calves seem to have a weakness for 

 shelled com, and this mixed with equal parts of 

 ground oats and bran and kept where they can have 

 access to it at will for the first three or four months 

 of their lives will put them in shape so that one 

 can select those most likely. Occasionally an out- 

 stander puts in an appearance, about which there is 

 no question when only a day or two old, but this 

 is the exception rather than the rule. When the 

 calves are about four months old I think it better 

 to feed the com ground, and add a small amount 

 of oilmeal, feeding what they will clean up at once. 

 Absolute cleanliness of feed-boxes and stalls is es- 

 sential with all, especially with calves. 



"The yearlings receive similar treatment to the 

 calves. Some prefer to continue with the milk por- 

 tion of the ration while others think it time to call 



