Milch Cows and Dairy Farming / Comprising the Breeds, Breeding, and Management, in Health and Disease, of Dairy and Other Stock, the Selection of Milch Cows, with a Full Explanation of Guenon's Method; The Culture of Forage Plants, and the Production of Milk, Butter, and Cheese: Embodying the Most Recent Improvements, and Adapted to Farming in the United States and British Provinces. With a Treatise upon the Dairy Husbandry of Holland; To Which Is Added Horsfall's System of Dairy Management

by Charles Louis Flint

This is all true, and a reason sufficient in itself for drying off the cow some weeks before parturition; but there is another important reason for the practice, which is that the mixture of the old milk with the new secretion is liable to end in an obstinate case of garget.

To prevent any ill effects from calving, the cow should not be suffered to get too fat, which high feeding after drying off might induce.

The period of gestation is about two hundred and eighty-four or two hundred and eighty-five days. But cows sometimes overrun their time, and have been known to go three hundred and thirteen days, and even more; while they now and then fall short of it, and have been known to calve in two hundred and twenty days. If they go much over the average time, the calf will generally be a male. But cows are sometimes liable to slink their calves; and this usually takes place about the middle of their pregnancy. To avoid the evil consequences, so far as possible, they should be watched; and, if a cow is found to be uneasy and feverish, or wandering about away from the rest of the herd, and apparently longing for something she cannot get, she ought to be taken away from the others.

If a cow slinks her calf while in the pasture with others, they will be liable to be affected in the same way.

In many cases, physicking will quiet the cow’s excitement in the condition above described, and prove of essential benefit. A dose of one pound of Epsom or Glauber’s salts, and one ounce of ginger, mixed in a pint of thick gruel, should be given first, to be immediately followed by the salts, in a little thinner gruel.

When a cow once slicks her calf, there is great risk in breeding from her. She is liable to do the same again. But when the slinking is caused by sudden fright or over-exertion, or any offensive matter, such as blood or the dead carcasses of animals, this result is not so much to be feared.

But the cow, when about to calve, ought not to be disturbed by too constant watching. The natural presentation of the fœtus is with the head lying upon the fore legs. If in this position, nature will generally do all. But, if the presentation is unnatural, and the labor has been long and ineffectual, some assistance is required. The hand, well greased, may be introduced, and the position of the calf changed; and, when in a proper position, a cord should be tied round the fore legs, just above the hoofs; but no effort should be made to draw out the calf till the natural throes are repeated. If the nostril of the calf has protruded, and the position is then found to be unnatural, the head cannot be thrust back without destroying the life of the calf.

The false position most usually presented is that of the head first, with the legs doubled under the belly. A cord is then fixed around the lower jaw, when it is pushed back, to give an opportunity to adjust the fore legs, if possible. The object must now be to save the life of the cow.

But the cases of false presentation, though comparatively rare, are so varied that no directions could be given which would be applicable in all cases.

After calving the cow will require but little care, if she is in the barn, and protected from changes of weather. A warm bran mash is usually given, and the state of the udder examined.