CATTLE AND THEIR DISEASES TEXT

Of these two modes, handling is the preferable, since it is the more natural method--imitating, as it does, the suckling of the calf. When a calf takes a teat into its mouth, it makes the tongue and palate by which it seizes it, play upon the teat by alternate pressures or pulsations, while retaining the teat in the same position. It is thus obvious that handling is somewhat like sucking, whereas stripping is not at all like it. It is said that stripping is good for agitating the udder, the agitation of which is conducive to the withdrawal of a large quantity of milk; but there is nothing to prevent the agitation of the udder as much as the dairymaid pleases, while holding in the other mode. Indeed, a more constant vibration could be kept up in that way by the vibrations of the arms than by stripping. Stripping, by using an unconstrained pressure on two sides of the teat, is much more apt to press it unequally, than by grasping the whole teat in the palm of the hand; while the friction occasioned by passing the finger and thumb firmly over the outside of the teat, is more likely to cause heat and irritation in it than a steady and full grasp of the entire hand. To show that this friction causes an unpleasant feeling even to the dairymaid, she is obliged to lubricate the teat frequently with milk, and to wet it at first with water; whereas the other mode requires no such expedients. And as a further proof that stripping is a mode of milking which may give pain to the cow, it cannot be employed, when the teats are chapped, with so much ease to the cow as handling. The first requisite in the person that milks is, of course, the utmost _cleanliness_. Without this, the milk is unendurable. The udder should, therefore, be carefully cleaned before the milking commences. Milking should be done _fast_, to draw away the milk as quickly as possible, and it should be continued as long as there is a drop of milk to bring away. This is an issue which cannot be attended to in too particular a manner. If any milk is left, it is re-absorbed into the system, or else becomes caked, and diminishes the tendency to secrete a full quantity afterward. Milking as dry as possible is especially necessary with young cows with their first calf; as the mode of milking and the length of time to which they can be made to hold out, will have very much to do with their milking qualities as long as they live. Old milk left in the receptacle of the teat soon changes into a curdy state, and the caseous matter not being at once removed by the next milking, is apt to irritate the lining membrane of the teat during the operation, especially when the teat is forcibly rubbed down between the finger and thumb in stripping. The consequence of this repeated irritation is the thickening of the lining membrane, which at length becomes so hardened as to close up the orifice at the end of the teat. The hardened membrane may be easily felt from the outside of the teat, when the teat is said to be _corded_. After this the teat becomes _deaf_, as it is called, and no more milk can afterward be drawn from the quarter of the udder to which the corded teat is attached. The milking-pail is of various forms and of various materials. The Dutch use brass ones, which are brilliantly scoured every time they are in use. Tin pitchers are used in some places, while pails of wood in cooper-work are employed in others. A pail of oak, having thin staves bound together by bright iron hoops, with a handle formed by a stave projecting upward, is convenient for the purpose, and may be kept clean and sweet. One nine inches in diameter at the bottom, eleven inches at the top, and ten inches deep, with an upright handle or leg of five inches, has a capacious enough mouth to receive the milk as it descends; and a sufficient height, when standing on the edge of its bottom on the ground, to allow the dairymaid to grasp it firmly with her knees while sitting on a small three-legged stool. Of course, such a pail cannot be milked full; but it should be large enough to contain all the milk which a single cow can give at a milking; because it is undesirable to rise from a cow before the milking is finished, or to exchange one dish for another while the milking is in progress. The cow being a sensitive and capricious creature, is, oftentimes so easily offended that if the maid rise from her before the milk is all withdrawn, the chances are that she will not again stand quietly at that milking; or, if the vessel used in milking is taken away and another substituted in its place, before the milking is finished, the probability is that she will _hold_ her milk--that is, not allow it to flow. This is a curious property which cows possess, of holding up or keeping back their milk. How it is effected has never been satisfactorily ascertained; but there is no doubt of the fact that when a cow becomes irritated, or frightened from any cause, she can withhold her milk. Of course, all cows are not affected in the same degree; but, as a proof how sensitive cows generally are, it may be mentioned that very few will be milked so freely by a stranger the first time, as by one to whom they have been accustomed. There is one side of a cow which is usually called the _milking side_--that is the cow's left side--because, somehow custom has established the practice of milking her from that side. It may have been adopted for two reasons: one, because we are accustomed to approach all the larger domesticated animals by what we call the _near side_--that is, the animal's left side--as being the most convenient one for ourselves; and the other reason may have been, that, as most people are right-handed, and the common use of the right hand has made it the stronger, it is most conveniently employed in milking the hinder teats of the cow, which are often most difficult to reach on account of the position of the hind legs and the length of the hinder teats, or of the breadth of the hinder part of the udder. The near side is most commonly used in this country and in Scotland; but in many parts of England the other side is preferred. Whichever side is selected, that should uniformly be used, as cows are very sensitive to changes. In Scotland it is a rare thing to see a cow milked by any other person than a woman, though men are very commonly employed at it in this country and in England. One never sees a man milking a cow without being impressed with the idea that he is usurping an office which does not become him; and the same thought seems to be conveyed in the terms usually applied to the person connected with cows--a dairy-_maid_ implying one who milks cows, as well as performs the other duties connected with the dairy--a dairy-_man_ meaning one who owns a dairy. There can be but little question that the charge of this branch of the dairy should generally be entrusted to women. They are more gentle and winning than men. The same person should milk the same cow regularly, and not change from one to another, unless there are special reasons for it. Cows are easily rendered troublesome on being milked; and the kicks and knocks which they usually receive for their restlessness, only render them more fretful. If they cannot be overcome by kindness, thumps will never make them better. The truth is, restless habits are continued in them by the treatment which they receive at first, when, most probably, they have been dragooned into submission. Their teats are tender at first; but an unfeeling, horny hand tugs at them at stripping, as if the animal had been accustomed to the operation for years. Can the creature be otherwise than uneasy? And how can she escape the wincing but by flinging out her heels?--Then hopples are placed on the hind fetlocks, to keep her heels down. The tail must then be held by some one, while the milking is going on; or the hair of its tuft be converted into a double cord, to tie the tail to the animal's leg. Add to this the many threats and scoldings uttered by the milker, and one gets a not very exaggerated impression of the "breaking-in." Some cows, no doubt, are very unaccomodating and provoking; but, nevertheless, nothing but a rational course toward them, administered with gentleness, will ever render them less so. There are cows which are troublesome to milk for a few times after calving, that become quite quiet for the remainder of the season; others will kick pertinaciously at the first milking. In this last case the safest plan--instead of hoppling, which only irritates--is for the dairymaid to thrust her head against the flank of the cow, and while standing on her feet, stretch her hands forward, get hold of the teats the best way she can, and send the milk on the ground; and in this position it is out of the power of the cow to hurt her. These ebullitions of feeling at the first milking after calving, arise either from feeling pain in a tender state of the teat, most probably from inflammation in the lining membrane of the receptacle; or they may arise from titillation of the skin of the udder and teat, which becomes the more sensible to the affection from a heat which is wearing off. At the age of two or three years the milking glands have not become fully developed, and their largest development will depend very greatly upon the management after the first calf. Cows should have, therefore, the most milk-producing food; be treated with constant gentleness; never struck, or spoken harshly to, but coaxed and caressed; and in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, they will grow up gentle and quiet. The hundredth had better be fatted and sent to the butcher. Harshness is worse than useless. Be the cause of irritation what it may, one thing is certain, that gentle discipline will overcome the most turbulent temper. Nothing does so much to dry a cow up, especially a young cow, as the senseless treatment to which she is too often subjected. The longer the young cow, with her first and second calf, is made to hold out, the more surely will this habit be fixed upon her. Stop milking her four months before the next calf, and it will be difficult to make her hold out to within four or six weeks of the time of calving afterward. Induce her, if possible, by moist and succulent food, and by careful milking, to hold out even up to the time of calving, if you desire to milk her so long, and this habit will be likely to be fixed upon her for life. But do not expect to obtain the full yield of a cow the first year after calving. Some of the very best cows are slow to develop their best qualities; and no cow reaches her prime till the age of five or six years. The extreme importance of care and attention to these points cannot be overestimated. The wild cows grazing on the plains of South America, are said to give not more than three or four quarts a day at the height of the flow; and many an owner of large herds in Texas, it is said, has too little milk for family use, and sometimes receives his supply of butter from the New York market. There is, therefore, a constant tendency in milch cows to dry up; and it must be guarded against with special care, till the habit of yielding a large quantity, and yielding it long, becomes fixed in the young animal, when, with proper care, it may easily be kept up. Cows, independently of their power to retain their milk in the udder, afford different degrees of pleasure in milking them, even in the quietest mood. Some yield their milk in a copious flow, with the gentlest handling that can be given them; others require great exertion to draw the milk from them even in streams no larger than a thread. The udder of the former will be found to have a soft skin and short teats; that of the latter will have a thick skin, with long rough teats. The one feels like velvet; the other is no more pleasant to the touch than untanned leather. To induce quiet and persuade the animal to give down her milk freely, it is better that she should be fed at milking-time with cut feed, or roots, placed within her easy reach. If gentle and mild treatment is observed and persevered in, the operation of milking, as a general thing, appears to be a pleasure to the animal, as it undoubtedly is; but, if an opposite course is pursued--if at every restless movement, caused, perhaps, by pressing a sore teat, the animal is harshly spoken to--she will be likely to learn to kick as a habit, and it will be difficult to overcome it ever afterward. Whatever may be the practice on other occasions, there can be no doubt that, for some weeks after calving, and in the height of the flow, cows ought, if possible, to be milked regularly three times a day--at early morning, noon, and night. Every practical dairyman knows that cows thus milked give a larger quantity of milk than if milked only twice, though it may not be quite so rich; and in young cows, no doubt, it has a tendency to promote the development of the udder and milk-veins. A frequent milking stimulates an increased secretion, therefore, and ought never to be neglected in the milk-dairy, either in the case of young cows, or very large milkers, at the height of the flow, which will commonly be for two or three months after calving. There being a great difference in the quality as well as in the quantity of the milk of different cows, no dairyman should neglect to test the milk of each new addition to his dairy stock, whether it be an animal of his own raising or one brought from abroad. A lactometer--or instrument for testing the comparative richness of different species of milk--is very convenient for this purpose; but any one can set the milk of each cow separately at first, and give it a thorough trial, when the difference will be found to be great. Economy will dictate that the cows least to the purpose should be disposed of, and their places supplied with better ones. THE RAISING OF CALVES. It has been found in practice that calves properly bred and raised on the farm have a far greater intrinsic value for that farm, other things being equal, than any that can be procured elsewhere; while on the manner in which they are raised will depend much of their future usefulness and profit. These considerations should have their proper weight in deciding whether a promising calf from a good cow and bull shall be kept, or sold to the butcher. But, rather than raise a calf at hap-hazard, and simply because its dam was celebrated as a milker, the judicious farmer will prefer to judge of the peculiar characteristics of the animal itself. This will often save the great and useless outlay which has sometimes been incurred in raising calves for dairy purposes, which a more careful examination would have rejected as unpromising. [Illustration: MATERNAL AFFECTION.] The method of judging stock which has been recommended in the previous pages is of practical utility here, and it is safer to rely upon it to some extent, particularly when other appearances concur, than to go on blindly. The milk-mirror on the calf is, indeed, small, but no smaller in proportion to its size than that of the cow; while its shape and form can generally be distinctly seen, particularly at the end of ten or twelve weeks. The development of the udder, and other peculiarities, will give some indication of the future capacities of the animal, and these should be carefully studied. If we except the manure of young stock, the calf is the first product of the cow, and as such demands our attention, whether it is to be raised or hurried off to the shambles. The practice adopted in raising calves differs widely in different sections of the country, being governed very much by local circumstances, as the vicinity of a milk-market, the value of milk for the dairy, the object of breeding, whether mainly for beef, for work, or for the dairy, etc.; but, in general, it may be said, that, within the range of thirty or forty miles of good veal-markets, which large towns furnish, comparatively few are raised at all. Most of them are fattened and sold at ages varying from three to eight or ten weeks; and in milk-dairies still nearer large towns and cities they are often hurried off at one or two days, or, at most, a week old. In both of these cases, as long as the calf is kept it is generally allowed to suck the cow, and, as the treatment is very simple, there is nothing which particularly calls for remark, unless it be to condemn the practice entirely, upon the ground that there is a more profitable way of fattening calves for the butcher, and to say that allowing the calf to suck the cow at all is objectionable on the score of economy, except in cases where it is rendered necessary by the hard and swollen condition of the udder. If the calf is so soon to be taken away, it is better that the cow should not be suffered to become attached to it at all: since she is inclined to withhold her milk when it is removed, and thus a loss is sustained. The farmer will be governed by the question of profit, whatever course it is decided to adopt. In raising blood-stock, however, or in raising beef cattle, without any regard to economy of milk, the system of suckling the calves, or letting them run with the cow, may and will be adopted, since it is usually attended with somewhat less labor. The other course, which is regarded as the best where the calf is to be raised for the dairy, is to bring it up by hand. This is almost universally done in all countries where the raising of dairy cows is best understood--in Switzerland, Holland, some parts of Germany, and England. It requires rather more care, on the whole; but it is decidedly preferable, since the calves cost less, as the food can be easily modified, and the growth is not checked, as is usually the case when the calf is taken off from the cow. Allusion is here made, of course, to sections where the milk of the cow is of some account for the dairy, and where it is too valuable to be devoted entirely to nourishing the calf. In this case, as soon as the calf is dropped the cow is allowed to lick off the slimy moisture till it is dry, which she will generally do from instinct, or, if not, a slight sprinkling of salt over the body of the calf will immediately tempt her. The calf is left to suck once or twice, which it will do as soon as it is able to stand. It should, in all cases, be permitted to have the first milk which comes from the cow, which is of a turbid, yellowish color, unfit for any of the purposes of the dairy, but somewhat purgative and medicinal, and admirably and wisely designed by Nature to free the bowels and intestines of the new-born animal from the mucous, excrementitious matter always existing in it after birth. Too much of this new milk may, however, be hurtful even to the new-born calf, while it should never be given at all to older calves. The best course would seem to be--and such is in accordance with the experience of the most successful stock-raisers--to milk the cow dry immediately after the calf has sucked once, especially if the udder is painfully distended, which is often the case, and to leave the calf with the cow during one day, and after that to feed it by putting the fingers into its mouth, and gently bringing its muzzle down to the milk in a pail or trough when it will imbibe in sucking the fingers. No great difficulty will be experienced in teaching the calf to drink when taken so young, though some take to it much more readily than others. What the calf does not need should be given to the cow. Some, however, prefer to milk immediately after calving; and, if the udder is overloaded, this may be the best course, though the better practice appears to be, to leave the cow as quietly to herself as possible for a few hours. The less she is disturbed, as a general thing, the better. The after-birth should be taken from her immediately after it is dropped. It is customary to give the cow, as soon as convenient after