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 hav 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 
