428 
The Management of a Shorthorn Herd. 
its time of feeding have food before it— a thing we should 
greatly dislike ourselves. With a good feeder the animals lick 
the manger out ; Avith a bad one the manger is always partly 
full." Mr. Bushby adds, that ewes in-lamb, in the latter part 
of the season, are penned in the field with the ewes that have 
lambs, and have turnips at their pleasure by day, and dry food 
at night. He has seldom known them cast their lambs, and 
his impression is that this is because they are never over-filled, 
and never too long without food. But the tied-up animal will 
loathe the food it is always breathing over. Punctuality, with 
judgment to gauge the capacity of each animal, he considers 
very necessary ; and, as the most frequent cause of abortion, 
mentions sudden fright — from the discharge of a gun, a dog 
jumping over a wall, the steam from an engine, or anything 
else which startles the animals. All this, those know who have 
ever closely watched Shorthorns, is applicable to cattle ; and 
another cause of abortion is neglect in allowing dead rabbits, rats, 
rooks, or crows, or any decomposing animal matter, to lie about 
the land. Cattle, especially when in a breeding state, are keenly 
sensitive to bad smells. Neglected gateways and watering- 
places, where heavy cows have to toil and strain themselves 
through knee-deep mud or clay, are also dangerous. 
Some breeders separate calves from the mothers for the sake 
of the cows, that the cows may the more readily breed again ; 
other breeders do it for the sake of the calves. This is the 
more important in the case of calves whose dams are deep 
milkers, for it is of no use to talk about bringing up calves in 
the " natural " way when the cow's yield of milk so far exceeds 
that of a cow in her natural state. A yield of five or six gallons 
a day is known only under highly artificial conditions ; and to 
give a calf unrestricted access to such a supply would be to 
place it in great danger. In some places, if the cow is a deep 
milker, the calf is put in a little railed-off corner of her box, 
where she can see and lick it, but not feed it. The instinct of 
the cow to lick the calf should not be overlooked. The bloomy 
appearance of suckled calves is partly due to this motherly 
attention, and the licking along the calfs spine, which the cow, 
with her rasp of a tongue, gives her calf immediately after birth, 
has evidently an important meaning. All careful managers, 
when the calves are not reared by the cow, take care to imitate 
this process, rubbing well over the spine with a wisp of straw. 
This not only dries the calf and prevents its taking cold, but 
evidently strengthens it ; and the calf, if a healthy one at full 
time, responds to the rubbing by vigorous efforts, soon successful, 
to gain its feet. The calf, penned off in a corner of the cow's 
box, is admitted to her for its meals so many times a-day. 
