Cattle and Their Diseases. Robert Jennings

are usually very good milkers when well kept, and many of them fatten well, and attain good weight.

      The Hungarian cattle have also been imported, to some extent, into different parts of the country, and have been crossed upon the natives with some success. Many other strains of blood from different breeds have also contributed to build up the common stock of the country of the present day; and there can be no question that its appearance and value have been largely improved during the last quarter of a century, nor that improvements are still in progress which will lead to satisfactory results in the future.

      But, though we already have an exceedingly valuable foundation for improvement, no one will pretend to deny that our cattle, as a whole, are susceptible of it in many respects. They possess neither the size, the symmetry, nor the early maturity of the short horns; they do not, as a general thing, possess the fineness of bone, the beauty of form and color, nor the activity of the Devons or the Herefords; they do not possess that uniform richness of milk, united with generous quality, of the Ayrshires, nor the surpassing richness of milk of the Jerseys: but, above all, they do not possess the power of transmitting the many good qualities which they often have to their offspring—which is the characteristic of all well established breeds.

      It is equally certain, in the opinion of many good judges, that the dairy stock of the country has not been materially improved in its intrinsic good qualities during the last thirty or forty years. This may not be true of certain sections, where the dairy has been made a special object of pursuit, and where the custom of raising the best male calves of the neighborhood, or those that came from the best dairy cows, and then of using only the best formed bulls, has long prevailed. Although in this way some progress has, doubtless, been made, there are still room and need for more. More attention must be paid to correct principles of breeding before the satisfactory results which every farmer should strive to reach can be attained.

      Having glanced generally at the leading breeds of cattle in Great Britain, and examined, more in detail, the various breeds in the United States, the next subject demanding attention is,

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF CATTLE.

       Table of Contents

      SKELETON OF THE OX AS COVERED BY THE MUSCLES.

      1. The upper jaw-bone. 2. The nasal bone, or bone of the nose. 3. The lachrymal bone. 4. The malar, or cheek bone. 5. The frontal bone, or bone of the forehead. 6. The horns, being processes or continuations of the frontal. 7. The temporal bone. 8. The parietal bone, low in the temporal fossa. 9. The occipital bone, deeply depressed below the crest or ridge of the head. 10. The lower jaw. 11. The grinders. 12. The nippers, found on the lower jaw alone. 13. The ligament of the neck, and its attachments. 14. The atlas. 16. The dentata. 17. The orbits of the eye. 18. The vertebræ, or bones of the neck. 19. The bones of the back. 20. The bones of the loins. 21. The sacrum. 22. The bones of the tail. 23. The haunch and pelvis. 24. The eight true ribs. 25. The false ribs, with their cartilages. 26. The sternum. 27. The scapula, or shoulder-blade. 28. The humerus, or lower bone of the shoulder. 29. The radius, or principal bone of the arm. 40. The ulna, its upper part forming the elbow. 41. The small bones of the knee. 42. The large metacarpal or shank bone. 43. The smaller or splint bone. 44. The sessamoid bones. 45. The bifurcation at the pasterns, and the two larger pasterns to each foot. 46. The two smaller pasterns to each foot. 47. The two coffin bones to each foot. 48. The navicular bones. 49. The thigh bone. 50. The patella, or bone of the knee. 51. The tibia, or proper leg bone. 52. The point of the hock. 53. The small bones of the hock. 54. The metatarsals, or larger bones of the hind leg. 55. The pasterns and feet.

       Division. Vertebrata—possessing a back-bone.

       Class. Mammalia—such as give suck.

       Order. Ruminantia—chewing the cud.

       Family. With horns.

       Genus. Bovidæ—the ox tribe.

      Of this tribe there are eight species:

       Bos urus, the ancient bison.

       Bos bison, the American buffalo.

       Bos moschatus, the musk ox.

       Bos frontalis, the gayal.

       Bos grunniens, the grunting ox.

       Bos caffer, the South African buffalo.

       Bos bubalus, the common buffalo.

       Bos taurus, the common domestic ox.

      GESTATION.

      The usual period of pregnancy in a cow is nine calendar months, and something over: at times as much as three weeks. With one thousand and thirty one cows, whose gestations were carefully observed in France, the average period was about two hundred and eighty-five days.

      FORMATION OF TEETH.

      It is of the utmost importance to be able to judge of the age of a cow. Few farmers wish to purchase a cow for the dairy after she has passed her prime, which will ordinarily be at the age of nine or ten years, varying, of course, according to care, feeding, &c., in the earlier part of her life.

      The common method of forming an estimate of the age of cattle is by an examination of the horn. At three years old, as a general rule, the horns are perfectly smooth; after this, a ring appears near the nob, and annually afterward a new one is formed, so that, by adding two years to the first ring, the age is calculated. This is a very uncertain mode of judging. The rings are distinct only in the cow; and it is well known that if a heifer goes to bull when she is two years old, or a little before or after that time, a change takes place in the horn and the first ring appears; so that a real three-year-old would carry the mark of a four-year-old.

      TEETH AT BIRTH.

      SECOND WEEK.

      The rings on the horns of a bull are either not seen until five, or they cannot be traced at all; while in the ox they do not appear till he is five years old, and then are often very indistinct. In addition to this, it is by no means an uncommon practice to file the horns, so as to make them smooth, and to give the animal the appearance of being much younger than it really is. This is, therefore, an exceedingly fallacious guide, and cannot be relied upon by any one with the degree of confidence desired.

      The surest indication of the age in cattle, as in the horse, is given by the teeth.

      The calf, at birth, will usually have two incisor or front teeth—in some cases just appearing through the gums; in others, fully set, varying as the cow falls short of, or exceeds, her regular time of calving. If she overruns several days, the teeth will have set and attained considerable size, as appears in the cut representing teeth at birth. During the second week, a tooth will usually be added on each side, and the mouth will generally appear as in the next cut; and before the end of the third week, the animal will generally have six incisor teeth, as denoted in the cut representing teeth at the third week; and in a week from that time the full number of incisors will have appeared, as seen in the next cut.

      THREE WEEKS.

      MONTH.