The Process of Breeding. 69 



method is useful in mares that are shy or difficult breed- 

 ers, and in those who throw out the semen. (See Ster- 

 ility.) 



When the ovum is impregnated it is carried to the 

 uterus (if impregnation took place in the fallopian tube) 

 and there undergoes the natural course of development, 

 barring accidents, into the young animal. The period 

 taken to ensure such development usually spoken of as 

 the period of gestation, is on the average forty-two weeks 

 in the mare, thirty-six to thirty-eight weeks in the cow, 

 twenty-one weeks in the ewe and she-goat, and seventeen 

 weeks in the sow. It is quite a common occurence for 

 any of those animals to run over the time mentioned. 



Essentials to Success in Mating are: Single services by 

 the male, except in exceptional cases, plenty of exercise, 

 liberal diet of fleshformers, and maturity; in the female 

 the same apply. Although breeding is possible at 

 puberty, which occurs in horses at one and one-half 

 years, eight to twelve months in bovines, and six to 

 eight months in the sheep and pig, it does not follow 

 that it should be permitted; breeding from immature 

 stock is one of the curses of the livestock industry. 



At the time of mating both animals should be in a 

 healthy condition. Mares are often exercised or bled just 

 before service in order to ensure conception. Up-to-date 

 shepherds make a practice of flushing the ewes, as it is 

 called, by feeding rape, oats, etc., for a short time previ- 

 ous to mating. 



Success in mating depends not on the number of serv- 

 ices, but on the vitality and age of the animals used; 

 domestication has had its effects in the hands of intel- 



