The Management of a Shorthorn Herd. 
429 
The most common practice is three times a-day while it is verj 
younw, twice when a little older ; but there are differences of 
opinion about this : some managers, remembering that in a 
wild or natural state the calf would suck often, prefer to continue 
the three times a-day ; others, observing that while the wild cow 
yields to her calf frequent small quantities, the domesticated cow, 
unless a very bad milker, gives hers an ample meal, contend that 
three times sucking does not allow the calf plenty of time 
between the first and second, or second and third feed, to digest 
the milk. Then there is the system, which recognises both these 
views, of admitting the calf three times a-day, and regulating the 
quantity it gets by milking the cow while the calf sucks. When 
companionship of cow and calf without unrestricted access of the 
calf to the udder is desired, and the corner pen is not practicable, 
a basket-work muzzle is sometimes put upon the calf; but, after 
all, this seems a tantalising expedient, and it is questionable 
whether separation, with occasional access to one another, is 
not better for both cow and calf. To keep animals as free as 
possible from annoyance of all kinds is one of the principal 
rules of every well-managed herd. Any circumstance that frets, 
or fidgets, or disturbs, is opposed to thriving, and therefore 
wasteful of food. The wear and tear of " worry " taxes the food 
intended to form bone, muscle, or fat. Where the cow is hand- 
milked, and suckles her calf besides, would it not be wise to 
milk before the calf sucks ? The calf, then, would get the richer 
strippings, and the cow be thoroughly dried each time — a matter 
of great importance. If milked after the calf has sucked, she is 
not always inclined to yield her milk to the last drop. 
Probably among breeders of Shorthorns there are none who 
have paid more attention to the subject of management than 
jMr. E. A. Fawcett, of Childwick Hall, near St. Albans. What- 
ever differences of opinion may exist as to the expediency of his 
practice (and we must always make allowance for possible local 
reasons for or against any particular rule of management), there 
can be no question that every part of the subject has been care- 
fully considered by him, and that whatever he does with his cattle, 
right or wrong, he is able instantly to give his reason for doing 
it ; and that reason is always the outcome of deliberate thought. 
In a recent conversation with Mr. Fawcett upon the suckling 
sy stem which he adopts, I found him strongly opposed to the 
plan of allowing the calf to run out with the cow in the field, for 
the following reasons : — (1.) If the cow is a great milker, the calf 
sucks from perhaps only one quarter, or it may be two quarters, 
of the udder ; the two or three untouched quarters harden (or 
" stone," as a local term rather expressively describes it), and 
there is consequent danger of garget. (2.) The calf gallops. 
