THE COW AND THE DAIRY. 



17 



commons, and depending mainly on them for food, a good rule is to get their Cow, 

 not over the middle size ; and from a poorer district' of country. If she comes 

 from rich, fertile pastures, she will fall aS in her milk, below the quantity which 

 he was assured she had been accustomed to give, and thus disappoint him. If 

 from a poorer district, with the addition of the " slop" from the house and kitch- 

 en, and the external signs here laid down, she will be sure to improve. But ii a 

 Cow thai has been accustomed to feed on bad pasture, be put on that which is 

 better, she will greatly increase in milk, and fatten much faster. If two Cows 

 of the same age and condition, and which have been reared and fed on food of 

 equal quality, are put, the one on badfood, and the other on that which is good, 

 the latter will yield four times the milk, and fatten four times faster than the for- 

 mer. A Cow need not always be fed on green clover, cabbages, and cauliflower ; 

 but she will neither fatten nor yiejd milk if she gets no better fare than rushes, 

 bent, and sage grass." 



A writer in the " Farmer's Magazine," a few years ago, presented the follow- 

 ing doggrel lines, as combining what are popularly considered the good points of 

 a Cow, such as is common among the Short-Horned breed of Yorkshire ; — 



r jaws, snd toll in ber chine, 

 She 's heavy in fiankj and wide in her loin. 



She's broa^l in her ribs, and long in her rump, 

 A straight and flat back, wilhont e 'er a hnmp ; 

 She 's wide in her hips, and calm in ber eyes. 

 She 's fine in her shoolders, and thin in her thighs: 



She 's light in her neck, and small in her tul. 

 She 's wide in her breast, and good at the pail, 

 She's fine in her bone, and silt^ of shin — 

 She's a grazier's without, and a butcher's within." 



To ensure the perpetuation of valuable qualities in Cows, it is necessary to 

 breed from good Bulls of a similar variety to the Cows. The heifer or young 

 Cow, if properly pastured, should begin to breed at two years, or not beyond two 

 and a half years old. TheCow is at her prime at from four to six years, and de^ 

 clines into old age at ten or eleven years, when it is customary to fatten her .for 

 market. Dairymen, in selecting Cows, prefer those which have had their third 

 or fourth calf when they have attained their fifth or sixth year. The Bull is in 

 his prime at three years, and should not be used after eight or nine years old. 



GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF COWS. 

 Calving, 



The Cow goes with young nine calendar ^onths, or 270 days but this length 

 of time is liable to variation, from the effect of circumstances. A calf is most 

 likely to survive and be healthy which has gone exactly, thenine months. Cows 

 come into season at different periods of the year, in which state they remain for 

 a few days, after which the affection ceases, but it afterward returns in three or 

 four weeks. The farmer wattihes these periods, and permits the company of the 

 Bull at such a time as will produce the young at a time of the year wh^n grass 

 is plentiful for the nourishment of the mother. This should be an advanced pe- 

 riod of Spring, for the Cow will require nourishing diet some time before she 

 drops her calf as well as afterward. 



A Cow may be kept in milk up to the time of her calving, by daily taking a 

 quantity from her ; but this is most injurious to the fcetus, [that depends on the 

 external signs — see the Cow Book .'] and the excitement of the new upon the old 

 milk is apt to produce local inflammation. In towns, where dairymen care no- 

 thing for the calf, and must have milk at all risks. Cows are often maltreated by 

 being milked to the last ; but no one who conducts a dairy on proper principles 

 will be guilty of this inhumanity. The best plan is to allow the Cow to go grad- 

 ually dry, and not milk her at all for six or eight weeks before calving. This 

 will keep her in a reasonably good condition, and save extra food, which it is not 

 advantageous to give on a luxuriant scale,_ because high feeding at this period 

 may induce inflammation and fever at calving. 



No animal is so liable to abortion as the Cow ; it takes place at uncertam pe- 



