The better the stock, the better
care they deserve.

PREGNANCY

The symptoms of pregnancy in its early stage were formerly deemed
exceedingly unsatisfactory. The period of being in season--which
commonly lasts three or four days, and then ceases for a while, and
returns in about three weeks--might entirely pass over; and, although it
was then probable that conception had taken place, yet in a great many
instances the hopes of the breeder were disappointed. It was not until
between the third and fourth month, when the belly began to enlarge--or,
in many cases, considerably later--and when the motions of the foetus
might be seen, or, at all events, felt by pressing on the right flank,
that the farmer could be assured that his cow was in calf.

That greatest of improvements in veterinary practice, the application of
the ear to the chest and belly of various animals, in order to detect by
the different sounds--which after a short time, will be easily
recognized--the state of the circulation through most of the organs, and
consequently, the precise seat and degree of inflammation and danger,
has now enabled the breeder to ascertain the existence of pregnancy at
as early a stage as six or eight weeks. The beating of the heart of the
calf may then be distinctly heard, twice, or more than twice, as
frequent as that of the mother; and each pulsation will betray the
singular double beating of the foetal heart. This will also be
accompanied by the audible rushing of the blood through the vessels of
the placenta. The ear should be applied to the right flank, beginning on
the higher part of it, and gradually shifting downward and backward.
These sounds will thus soon be heard, and cannot be mistaken.

TREATMENT BEFORE CALVING.

Little alteration needs to be made in the management of the cow for the
first seven months of pregnancy; except that, as she has not only to
yield milk for the profit of the farmer, but to nourish the growing
foetus within, she should be well, yet not too luxuriantly, fed. The
half-starved cow will not adequately discharge this double duty, nor
provide sufficient nutriment for the calf when it has dropped; while the
cow in high condition will be dangerously disposed to inflammation and
fever, when, at the time of parturition, she is otherwise so
susceptible of the power of every stimulus. If the season and the
convenience of the farmer will allow, she will be better at pasture, at
least for some hou