The Management of a Shorthorn Herd. 
395 
of her milking, .1 cow will have an ample supply for another 
besides her own. In almost every instance the cows are allowed 
to suckle their calves. This plan is found to be a safe one for 
both cow and calf, and since it was fully adopted, the loss of a 
calf has been very rare, and no Shorthorn cow has died of milk- 
fever for many years. As safeguards against this cause of loss, 
the precautions of limiting the cows in their food a few days 
before and after calving, and giving laxative medicines at that 
time, are strictly observed. The calves remain with their dams 
for six or seven months, when they are weaned, in order to rest 
the cow before she has another calf. Mr. Patten is most dis- 
tinct and emphatic in declaring that the suckling system does 
not prevent the cows from coming in use readily. His own 
experience is that the average time of their taking the bull does 
not exceed two months after calving, and as a rule each cow 
produces a calf every year. The food of the cow in winter, 
when she is in-milk, consists of hay with an allowance of two 
mashes (a mixture of bran and bean and Indian meal), given 
night and morning ; and when not in-milk, it is hay and 2 or 
3 lbs. of linseed-cake in the day. When turnips or mangold- 
Avurzels are plentiful, an allowance of three or four stones per 
diem to each cow has a most beneficial effect. An " outrake " 
in winter, Avhere a good deal of rough herbage has been left 
from summer, is considered almost indispensable, especially if 
no roots are given. During the summer months no artificial 
food of any kind is used. 
The heifers, whose food is similar to that of the dried cows, 
are usually put to the bull when eighteen months old, as any 
further delay is found to increase the risk of barrenness, especially 
if the animals are in high condition, as will usually be the case 
with heifers bred from stock selected for their readiness to thrive, 
and kept in the manner described. Mr. Patten concurs in the 
opinion of those who maintain that premature calving is fre- 
quently the result of inferior food, of mouldy hay in particular, 
and he strongly insists upon the necessity, for successful manage- 
ment, that all the food shall be of good wholesome quality. It 
has been seen that in Scotland, casting is often attributed to an 
unduly large proportion of turnips over straw (or perhaps it 
should be stated the other way, too little straw in connection 
with an abundant supply of turnips) ; but Mr. Patten's observa- 
tions in Northumberland (a grass and hay, not straw and turnip 
district) go to show that the evil of premature calving is always 
more prevalent during a winter following a bad hay summer 
than at any other time. He maintains also that the excessive 
feeding for the showyard, and the practice of allowing cows 
