60 Western Live-stock Management 



July and August calves are to be avoided. If weaned 

 with the others, they are too young and will not thrive, 

 while if allowed to run with the cow on winter feed neither 

 the cow nor the calf does well unless more hay is fed than 

 the calf is worth. A July calf will not usually be any 

 larger at two years of age than one dropped the following 

 March. Fall calves are satisfactory in the dairy herd or 

 the show herd but on the range they usually are expensive 

 and unsatisfactory. An exception, however, must be 

 made in the case of the stockman who has unusually good 

 shelter and a great abundance of good alfalfa. It has 

 been demonstrated that under these conditions the cow 

 and calf may be given a well-bedded shed and a ton 

 and a half of alfalfa and produce an excellent calf. When 

 spring comes the cow goes out on grass, and the calf, in- 

 stead of being weaned at six months of age, gets more 

 milk than ever and is so allowed to suck the cow for nine 

 or ten months. Such a calf at twelve months is as big 

 as the spring calf at eighteen months. These methods 

 mark the most advanced stages of beef production under 

 western conditions ; however, only a few cattle-men have 

 facilities for handling this class of cattle, and but few are 

 willing to give them the necessary attention. 



The length of the period of pregnancy (the time be- 

 tween breeding and calving) is nine months; hence for 

 spring calves the cow should be bred in early summer. 

 The cow comes in heat at intervals of about eighteen to 

 twenty-one days throughout the year except for two or 

 three months after calving, and remains in heat for about 

 twelve hours. When the bull is not allowed to remain 

 with the cows, care must be taken to watch the cows 

 carefully every day when it is desired to breed them, 

 else the period of heat will pass by without being noticed 



