The Cow 331 



kept in place. Unruly oxen must be thrown 

 and roped stoutly before they can be shod. 

 Old man Shack told wonderful tales of " the 

 fine ridin' oxen he had often an' often seed, up 

 in the mountings," but Joe was unconvinced. 

 He did not doubt in the least that some moun- 

 taineers rode upon oxen, carrying their grist 

 to mill, their truck to town, or purely for the 

 fun of it. But he did very much doubt the 

 pleasure of such riding — from all he knew 

 of cattle's lumbering, clumsy motion, he 

 thought it must be ever so much more 

 tiresome than walking. 



Twin calves both of the same sex grow 

 up strictly normal. But a heifer calf twin 

 to a bull calf will not make a cow. She is 

 called a free martin, and alm.ost never breeds, 

 though sometimes she gives milk. More 

 generally she makes a fine free-footed plough- 

 beast, quicker and lighter-stepping than an 

 ox. A yoke of free martins, indeed, — 

 though such a thing is hard to come by — 

 are worth almost as much in the making 

 of a crop as a span of slow mules. 



A hungry cow has quick wits. She learns 

 easily to lift a gate latch with her horns, or 

 lay down the rails of a fence in the same 

 fashion, also to kneel, thrust her head and 

 neck through a low slip-gap, surge upward 

 with her shoulders, and thus wreck the fence 



