e calves are taken from their dams there is the greatest danger
of garget, and this is always an anxious time with the breeder. The
cows must be allowed to go gradually off their milk, the greatest care
being taken to draw the teats once a-day when necessary. The food must
be restricted till the milk disappear; and as some cows that have been
suckled will not allow their teats to be drawn by the hand, the calves
must be put to them once a-day till the milk cease.

_The proper age for breeding._--The proper age for breeding may
depend upon circumstances, breed, &c.; but, dealing as we are with the
Aberdeen and Angus, I would say that heifers should never be put to the
bull before they are two years old. There is, no doubt, some force in
the argument that by breeding earlier keep is saved; but the answer to
this is that growth is diminished, while calving is attended with
danger. I had six heifers bulled when they were one year old. They had
all difficulty in calving; three of them required assistance, and were
very much torn and lacerated before the calves could be extracted, and
the mothers have never attained the size of the other cows in the herd.
Nor has the argument much force with me that the one-year-old is surer
to stand to the bull than the two-year-old. I maintain that we have
this very much in our own power, and that the two-year-old, with proper
treatment, and at little cost, is as sure to stand to the bull as the
one-year-old, while she will attain to a larger size. The treatment I
adopt with yearling heifers intended for breeding purposes is the
following--and I have seldom or never failed in getting them in calf:
They are not starved to interfere with their growth, but through the
summer, when rising two years old, they are kept on the very worst
grass on the farm, and on the refuse of the grass rejected by the other
cattle, which are removed to fresh pastures. In winter and spring, up
to the time of serving with the bull, they get an average barrowful of
turnips amongst every three, and no more. By this treatment the heifers
will just be fresh, and will stand to the bull as readily as yearlings.
I grant that if you were to put them on luxuriant pasture, and give
them full allowance of turnips through the winter and spring, they
would be fit for the butcher, and not for the bull. The advantages
more than counterbalance the disadvantages. Their parts will be strong
and open, and they will calve with safety;