The Lady's Country Companion; Or, How to Enjoy a Country Life RationallyLoudon, Mrs. (Jane)
General
The Lady's Country Companion; Or, How to Enjoy a Country Life Rationally
Loudon, Mrs. (Jane)
Cooking; Country life; Home economics
If the cow be affected with the _yellows_, which is known by the
nostrils and eyelids looking yellow, ten grains of calomel should be
given every other night, and a saline dose once a week, the animal
being kept warm, and only turned out in the middle of the day, in a
fresh pasture, if practicable.
Loss of appetite may be relieved by tonics.
All other diseases of cattle (and they are numerous) are too serious to
be tampered with, and should be referred to a good cattle doctor at
once.
Many persons say a great deal of the _kinds_ of cows that are to be
preferred; but this I think of very little consequence, as there are
good and bad milkers of every breed. Generally speakings small, neat,
compact-looking cows, are best suited for a gentleman's demesne, as
they look better in the landscape, and do not tread up the ground so
much as large heavy cattle. Alderney cows are much admired for the
elegance of their forms and the richness of their milk; but they are
delicate, and are subject to colds and loss of appetite. The Ayrshire
cows are quite as handsome, and both better milkers and much hardier;
but they are not often to be met with in England.
Whatever kind you select, a great deal depends upon their management.
They are delicate in their appetites, and do not like grass that they
have trodden down and breathed upon for many days; and they require
rather long grass, because they always wrap the grass round with the
tongue before they bite it, instead of nibbling the grass with their
lips, and biting close to the ground, as is done by sheep and horses.
For these reasons cows require to have their pasture changed every
fortnight if practicable; and, when they are removed from a field, a
man should be employed to toss their manure about so as to prevent it
from lying in patches, as, unless this is done, coarse strong grass,
which no cow will eat, will spring up from every place where a patch of
cow-dung has lain. If, however, the field be properly treated, the cow
may be brought back to it in about a fortnight, or at most in three or
four weeks.
Cows are very particular in having clean water, though they do not
drink often, as the second stomach serves as a reservoir; and where
there is a pond they generally go into it till they come to deep water
before they drink; and this habit is good for their feet. There should
also be either an open shed, or at least one large tree, in the field,
to afford shade for the cows while they are chewing the cud; and they
should never be changed suddenly from a very poor pasture to a very
rich one, or the reverse.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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