[Sidenote: To geld ox-calves.] It is tyme to gelde his oxen calues in the olde of the mone, whan they be .x. or .xx. dayes olde, for than it is leaste ieoperdye, and the oxe shall be the more hyer, and the lenger of body, and the le_n_ger horned: and that maye 4 be well prouyd, to take two oxe-calues, both of one kynde, of one makynge, and both of one age; gelde one of them, and let the other goo forthe and be a bull, and [Sidenote: A gelt calf grows bigger than a bull.] put theym bothe in one pasture, tyll they be foure or 8 fyue yere olde: and than shall ye se the oxe-calfe ferre [Sidenote: [Fol. 40.]] greatter euery waye than the bull; there is noo cause but the geldynge; and yf thou gelde them not tyll they be a yere olde, there is more ieopardye, he shall be lesse of 12 bodye, and shorte-horned. 68. ¶ Horses and mares to drawe. [Sidenote: Horses and mares.] A husbande maye not be withoute horses and mares, or bothe; and specially, if he go with a horse-ploughe, he muste haue both his horses to drawe, and his mares to brynge coltes, to vpholde his flocke, and yet at manye 4 tymes they maye drawe well, if they be well handled. But they maye not beare sackes, nor be rydden vppon noo iourneys whan they be with foole, and specyally whanne they haue gone with foole .xx. or .xxiiii. wekes, 8 [Sidenote: Take care of the mares.] for than is the greateste ieopardy. For yf she be rydden vppon, and sette vp hotte, or tourned out and take cold, she wil caste her foole, the whiche woll be a greatte losse to the housbande. For she wyll labour and beare whan 12 she hath fooled, and drawe whan she is with foole, as well as the horse. It is conuenient for the husbande to knowe, whanne his mare wolde be horsed. It is the [Sidenote: [Fol. 40_b_.]] common sayenge, that she wyll take the hors within .ix. or 16 .x. dayes, nexte after that she hath fooled: but that saying I holde not with, for and she do so, she wyll not holde therto, for the hors dothe dryue her to it. But .xx. days after, is tymely ynoughe to brynge her to a hors. 20 For she wyl not holde to it, excepte she be kene of horsyng, and that shal ye knowe by her shap, for that wyll twyrle open, and close agayne, many tymes in an houre: and than brynge her to a hors, and let her be with hym a day or a 24 nyght, and that is suffycyent. For it is better, to kepe [Sidenote: Keep the horse from the mares.] the horse frome the mares, than to go with them, for dyuers causes, and specyally he shall be more lusty, and the moo horse-coltes shall he gete. But he that hath 28 very many mares, may not alway attende them, but let them go to-gether, and take as god sendes it. Some men holde an opinion, that if the horse be put to the