416 AMERICAN CATTLE. 



After the cow has been served by the bull, mark the date, 

 and her heat having passed, turn her quietly into the field, or 

 stable, with the other cows, provided the bull be confined by 

 himself, as he should be. If not impregnated, her heat will 

 return in about twenty days. If she so return, repeatedly, and 

 be in high condition of flesh, her feed should be reduced ; let her 

 be regularly salted, twice a week, (when she was only salted once 

 a week, or less, before,) whether she be at pasture, or soiled, or 

 in the winter stable. If a healthy creature, she will not long 

 remain refractory to conception. If she have a natural, or 

 chronic inclination to barrenness, and a valuable animal, for 

 breed, patience must be indulged with her, and the causes of her 

 difficulty, if possible, ascertained, and if within the power of 

 remedies, corrected. (Many farriers resort to bleeding: we do 

 not much believe in it.) Sometimes a cow or heifer may remain 

 passive for weeks, after her connection with the bull, and still be 

 unimpregnated, when a sudden return of her heat will be seen. 

 Such freaks are not always to be accounted for, and a return to 

 the bull may be successful. "Within three or four months, if 

 she remain quiet, tlie signs of pregnancy may be ascertained by 

 any inteihgent herdsman. The motions of the foetus may be 

 felt by passing the hand on the right flank; or by putting the 

 ear close upon it, the beating of the foetal heart may be lieard. 

 The first pregnancy in young heifers may be ascertained by a 

 gradual growth of the udder, which soon takes place, not to be 

 much enlarged till a few weeks before parturition. 



AS MATERNITY APPROACHES, 



• 



The udder of the cow, or heifer, should be closely watched, that 

 it be not inflamed, or caked, with the rapid secretions of milk 

 that may now flow into it. The progress of this milky flow will 

 somewhat depend on her condition, the season of the year, and 

 the succulence of her food. There is less danger of inflamnia- 



