hay for two months before the breeding season, and during that time I
keep them apart from the cows. Like Atticus, I have two for seventy
cows, one a yearling, the other two years old. When that constellation
has risen which the Greeks call Lyra, and we Romans, Fides, I turn
the bull into the herd again. The bull indicates whether a male or a
female calf has been conceived by the side on which he leaves the cow:
if male, on the right; if female, on the left. "Why this is so," said
Vaccius, turning to me, "I leave to you who read Aristotle."

"A cow should not be served under two years, so that she may have her
first calf in the third year: it would be better in the fourth. Most
cows bear for ten years, some even more. The most suitable time for
stinting cows is during the forty days following the rising of the
Dolphin, or even a little later, for thus they will drop their calves
at the most temperate season of the year, for a cow goes ten months
pregnant. On this subject I have come upon an extraordinary statement
in a book that a bull which has just been altered can get a cow with
calf.

"Breeding cows should be pastured where there is abundant grass and
plenty of water, and care should be taken to protect them from
crowding too close together, and from being struck, or from fighting
with one another: moreover, to protect them against being worried in
summer by cattle flies and those minute insects which get under their
tails, some farmers shut them up during the heat of the day in pens,
which should be strewn with leaves or some other bedding on which they
can rest comfortably. In summer they are driven to water twice a day,
in winter once. Against the time when they are due to drop their
calves you should arrange to give them access to fresh forage near the
stable which they can eat with appetite as they go out, for at that
time they are very dainty about their food. A watch out must be kept
to prevent their frequenting chilly places, for cold depresses the
vitality as much as hunger.

"These are the rules for raising neat cattle: the suckling calves
should not be suffered to sleep with their dams, for they might crush
them, but should be given access to them in the morning and when they
return from pasture. When the calves are weaned the dams should be
comforted by having green stuff thrown into their stalls for them to
eat. The floor of a calf stable, like most others, should be paved
with stone to keep their h