314 Next to the Ground 



produce bloating. That is to say, in fer- 

 menting it sets free quantities of gas — then 

 the poor beast swells violently, falls, rolls, 

 gets up again, lows, staggers, falls, and dies, 

 unless help comes, and quickly. If the 

 bloating is discovered in time, it may be 

 checked by running the beasts hard, until 

 they are ready to drop. Drenches some- 

 times avail, but the sure if painful remedy is 

 the trocar — a sharp spike-like knife with 

 which to pierce the animal's side just back 

 of the right foreshoulder. It must go deep 

 enough to cut the outer stomach, yet leave 

 the inner one intact ; further it must be so 

 skilfully directed it will miss a vital part. 

 Major Baker thought prevention ever^ so 

 much better than such cure. So his cattle 

 ranged for six weeks up and down the creek 

 valley, getting their fill of tender watery green 

 things which could not possibly do them 

 harm. 



Cattle browse by nature and graze by 

 opportunity. A richly budded thicket tempts 

 them more than the tenderest sweet grass. 

 They nip off not only buds hut lengths of 

 slender stem as well. When the buds grow 

 to young shoots, the tongue comes into play. 

 A cow's tongue is not only her curry-comb, 

 — long, flexile, muscular, and viscid, it can 

 draw into her mouth herbage beyond reach 



