Management of Cattle. 
443 
wards and outwards, the tips of which are of a dark green or black 
colour, plenty of long soft hair, thick back, and a deej) good car- 
cass; the prevailing colour is black, but dun and jcUow are not 
uncommon, and the latter very frequently prove the best feeders. 
The breeding-cows are drafted and bulls put amcmgst them so 
that they may drop their calves in April and May. Tlie calves 
invariably follow and suck their dams till the autumn, when they 
are separated from their mothers and put into some sheltered 
situation, such as rough woodland, which has been saved for win- 
tering. They have also a regular supply of hay daily. Stirks or 
young stock rising two are treated in the same manner : at a year 
and a half old some breeders sell them to those farmers who 
make a provision for wintering cattle. Others who have large 
farms, well sheltered, and plenty of hay, keep ihem until rising 
three. It is very seldom that any of the cows are milked, and 
scarcely any of the stock housed in winter, with the exception of a 
few late calves. They are generally fed off upon grass rising four, 
or sold to the English drovers. After eating rough grass, &c., 
in this country, during the first winter, they are generally, in the 
following summer, grazed and finished in the pastures ; if upon 
good land and well kept during the spring months, they may be 
sent to market in July or August, and according to their frame 
will weigh from 36 to 46 stones. When not finished upon pas- 
tures, they are generally stall-fed, or boxed, and seldom put into 
loose yards. Highlanders rarely do any good in that way : they 
are naturally so wild and fretful, the partial confinement proves 
irksome, and they are continally poking and gormg each other. 
If there is no convenience for tying them up in stalls, it is better 
to give them a little cake upon the grass land (from 3 to 5 lbs. 
per day), beginning about the middle of July, or whenever the 
grass begins to shrink, and, if necessary, continuing it until late in 
the autumn, if the season be favourable, adding a little good hay 
the first thing in the morning, when the days begin to shorten, 
and the nights become cold. Under the above treatment, if the 
grass-keeping is only moderately good, Highlanders will do re- 
markably well, and infinitely better than in yards. Even in stalls 
they sometimes progress very slowly, at first, for many weeks, and 
it is evident they were never intended for such close confinement. 
It is highly necessary, in the treatment of our domestic animals, 
to study, not only their food, but also the habits given them by 
nature ; and any attempt to thwart them will generally end in 
disappointment. 
The Fifeshire breed, chiefly black, with horns, is a sirong-boned 
race of cattle, rather deficient in flesh, and frequently bad handlers. 
They are not much in repute across the border, and are prin- 
cipally fattened in their own country. The calves are brought up 
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