CALVING.

The cow should be milked as long as her milk is good, or until she runs

dry, which may in some cases be six or eight weeks of calving (in others

not at all.) Her rations should be curtailed a little for a short time

before that period, in order to carry her safely through the crisis.

After she has the calf, she may receive warm bran-mashes for a day or

two, containing a little of her own milk, and should not be fully fed for

the first few days. This treatment is all that is required before and

after the period of calving. The cow will generally pass through this

event in safety, without assistance. Should there, however, be a false

presentation, or other difficulty of parturition, the best thing the

owner can do, if he has no experience in the matter, is to call to his

aid a veterinary surgeon, or a neighbor who knows what course to pursue

in such cases.

As long as the cow is fresh, and yields a large flow of milk, she should

be milked three times a day, early in the morning, at noon, and late

in the evening; afterwards two milkings daily, will be sufficient. She

should be fed, watered, milked, carded, and led out of and into the

stable, at the same hours every day. She should not be beaten, or pelted,

or harshly spoken to or dealt with in any manner. Kind and considerate

treatment inspires her with confidence and contentment, makes her the

pet and delight of the household, and is rewarded by an abundance of

wholesome milk. But there are many matters of detail in keeping a cow,

which it is impossible to notice in a limited essay like this. If the

owner desires to be fully informed on the subject, he will do well to

purchase a few books that treat upon the subject.

The stable for the cow should be warm, dry, well ventilated, and large

enough to contain two or three tons of hay and litter, together with

other material to be described hereafter, besides a stall for the cow,

and room for the calf. If the owner of the cow has a stable that fulfils

these requirements, it will answer his purpose if he makes a proper stall

in it. If he has no stable, and cannot afford the expense of building a

good one, he must at least have a proper stall to save the manure of the

cow, and to shelter her from the inclemency of the weather. A stable that

will fully answer this purpose, should be at least fourteen feet square,

and about twelve feet high to the eaves, and should have a loft for

storing hay. The annexed figures represent such a structure in outline:

[Illustration: Fig. 17.]

[Illustration: Fig. 18.]

Figure 17 is a ground plan, and shows that the lower story is divided

into two parts, _S_, representing the stall, and _R_, all the remaining

portion below. The stall is ten feet long, and should be five, or nearly

five feet wide; _M_, represents the manger, which is about two feet deep,

eighteen inches wide, and in length equal to the width of the stall. The

cow is tied to the manger with a halter or chain; _T_, is a trough in the

manger for feeding roots, salt, etc., and is about one foot wide, eight

inches deep, and in length equal to the width of the manger. The floor

of the stall should slope a little to the rear, and must be water-tight,

so as to conduct the urine of the cow into the brine-pit, _B_. The floor

may be composed of cement, or of two-inch plank closely fitted together.

The brine-pit, _B_, consists of a water-tight box made of plank, and

should be about one foot wide, six inches deep, and in length equal to

the width of the stall. This pit is sunk into the ground so that its top

is on a level with the floor, in order that it may receive all the liquid

discharges of the cow that are not absorbed by the litter. If the floor

is laid in cement the pit may be made of the same material. The object

of the brine-pit is to save the liquid manure; to accomplish which the

latter must be retained by some absorbent. Dry earth is used for this

purpose. At first the bottom of the pit is covered with dry earth, and

as soon as this is moist, more earth is added until the pit is full of

the saturated substance, when the latter is thrown upon the compost heap,

and the same process repeated. A door is placed at _e_, for admitting the

cow, and carrying away the manure. The partition between _S_ and _R_ may

be made of boards or rails, and need not be over four feet high.

The division, _R_, is used for keeping litter, dry earth, artichoke

roots, green fodder, and the calf. It should have a door at some

convenient place for entrance from the outside, and a window with a

glass-frame, preferably on the south side. It is in communication with

the stall by means of a gate at _d_.

Figure 18 is a view of the gable-end, _L_, representing the loft for

storing hay and other dry fodder. The loft has a shutter in one of the

gable-ends or sides, and a ladder or steps running up to it from within,

for convenience of feeding. _P_, is a post in the corner of the manger.

The other letters in figure 18 indicate the same parts as in figure 17.

The cow-yard will be large enough if it contains an area of two square

rods; but it can be made somewhat larger with advantage. It ought to

adjoin the stable so as to give the cow direct access to the stall; and

ought to be shaded by trees in order to afford shelter to the cow from

the direct rays of the sun in summer. The cow should be kept in the

yard only a part of the day, and the rest of the time she should be in

the stall. The stall-door should be left open when she is in the yard,

so that she can enter the stable at will. Some manure will be lost by

suffering her to run in the yard; but the benefit that she will derive

from it, in health and contentment, will more than compensate for the

loss.