TIic 3Ianagement of a Sliorthorn Herd. 
425 
or of not quite 1 calf out of 44 per annum. The figures for 
1880 were not completed when I took these memoranda ; but so 
far as the calves were born (and all immediately entered in 
the books) the figures appeared to be about the average of the 
preceding eight years. 
Conclusion. 
In reviewing the various systems of management in different 
districts and circumstances, one cannot fail to remark the occa- 
sionally contradictory character of the evidence presented con- 
cerning matters of fact. In one herd, the early breeding of 
heifers is considered inimical to their strength and growth, and 
even affects unfavourably, at least for a time, their breeding 
powers ; in another herd, heifers will be shy to breed, or will 
not breed at all, unless they are brought to service early. In 
one herd, cows do not breed again until their calves are weaned ; 
in another, the suckling of her calf does not throw the cow one 
day later. With regard to this question, the weight of evidence 
appears to be in favour of the suggestion that it is rather the 
companionship of the calf, than the fact that the cow is milked 
by it instead of by the hand, that delays the cow's breeding ; 
but on the other hand there is — for instance, at Ardfert (where 
all the events in the herd are minutely recorded, and accurate 
statistics are accordingly afforded by the books) — the fact of 
cows breeding regularly within the year, while those which have 
heifer-calves are never parted from them until the final weaning, 
when the calf is seven, eight, or nine months old, and those 
which produce males do not lose their society until the young 
bulls become troublesome, and this can scarcely be before they 
are at least three or four months old, when in most cases the 
dam is again safe in-calf. To the obvious answer that delay 
occurs because the cow is not sufficiently watched, and that 
while the calf is with her she needs closer watching than if it 
were away, one may draw argument for a rejoinder from the 
example of Holker, where the utmost vigilance is exercised, and 
yet the cows that suckle their calves do not readily breed again. 
The explanation of these contradictions is perhaps not very easily 
to be found ; but I would submit that we must seek it in local 
conditions. Perhaps there are in the climate or the land at Ard- 
fert, or in some circumstances of the breeding, conditions which 
do not exist at Holker, favourable to the reproductiveness of 
nursing-mothers. A friend writing from the north of Ireland, 
without reference to my present inquiries, in fact, some time 
before I had any idea of writing upon this subject in the 
'Journal,' mentioned that the soil or climate of his particular 
district appeared to be peculiarly favourable to the fertility of 
