ze essay; but I must take exception to at once using even the best
bull indiscriminately for a large and valuable herd of breeding cows. I
hold that every bull must be tested, and when the result is found
satisfactory, _then, and not till then_, use him indiscriminately
for all your cows. My experience coincides with Mr Berry's where he
says the wise breeder "will not fail to keep in view the necessity of
good blood in the bulls resorted to, for that will give the only
assurance that they will transmit their own valuable properties to
their offspring; but he must not depend upon this alone, or he will
soon run the risk of degeneracy." To keep up a breeding stock to a high
point of excellence is very difficult. The breeder ought to be always
buying and selling and incorporating different _strains_ together.
There will be many blanks, but there will be a prize; and when you hit,
and the incorporation proves a lasting benefit and is stamped on the
original herd, it is a great prize you have won. I therefore agree
with Mr Berry that we must not depend alone upon the good blood of the
bull.

Having done my best to explain how I think the foundation of a breeding
stock should be laid, I shall now give my opinion and experience how
the herd should be treated, and how it should be kept up. The cows,
heifers, and bulls should be kept fresh, not fat, nor too lean. The
calves should have a different treatment. All breeding cattle tied to
the stall should be let out every day for two or three hours, or at
least every second day, unless the weather be very wet or stormy. The
finer the quality of the stock the less rich will be the food they
require. It is only throwing away your means to give high-bred cows
with calf, or heifers rising two years old, a full supply of turnips. A
few to keep them fresh and healthy, and plenty of straw, is all they
should be allowed. Bulls that are apt to accumulate fat should also be
stinted, else they will soon be useless as stock-getters. After
calving, the cows, to secure a flow of milk, should receive a full
allowance of turnips, but the increase must be gradual, as the cow has
been stinted, or ought to have been, before calving. Before calving,
milk-fever, or dropping after calving, is to be guarded against. I have
three or four cases with only one recovery. I now bleed and physic
every cow two or three days before calving. I stint them in their food
two or three weeks, and have never lost one wh