Buffon's Natural History. Volume 05 (of 10) / Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c

by comte de Georges Louis Leclerc Buffon

The bull, like the stallion, should be chosen from the handsomest of his species; he should be large, well made, and full of flesh; his eyes black, his looks haughty and fierce, forehead open, head short, horns thick, short, and black, ears short and soft, muzzle large, nose short and straight, neck fleshy and thick, shoulders and breast large, loins firm, back straight, legs thick and muscular, tail long and well covered with hair, step firm and sure, and his coat of a reddish colour. The cows frequently retain the first, second, or third time, and as soon as they are with calf the bull takes no more notice of them, although they have still some appearance of ardour; but this usually goes off as soon as they have conceived, and they also refuse the approaches of the bull.

Cows are also subject to abortion if put to the plough, and not properly managed; and care should be taken to prevent their leaping over hedges, ditches, &c. they should also be put into the richest pastures, which, without being too humid or marshy, afford plenty of herbage. For six weeks before they calve they should be more fed than usual, giving them grass in their stalls, if summer, and, during the winter bran, lucerne, saintfoine, &c. They should not be milked from that time; the milk being necessary for the nourishment of the f[oe]tus. There are some cows in which the milk ceases a month or six weeks before they calve, but those which have milk to the last are the best mothers, and the best nurses. The milk, towards the time of calving, is generally bad, and in small quantities. More care is necessary to be taken of the cow at and after her delivery than of the mare, being apparently more weakened and fatigued. She should be put into a stable and kept warm, giving her good litter, and feeding her well, during ten or twelve days, with bean-flower, corn, oats, &c. mixed with salt water, and plenty of lucerne, saintfoine, or good grass. This time is sufficient to re-establish her strength, after which she may be brought by degrees to her usual manner of living and pasturing. Not any of her milk should be taken for the two first months, but left solely to the calf; besides, the milk at this time is not of the best quality.

The calf should be left with his mother for five or six days, that it may be kept warm, and suck as often as it has occasion; it may then be removed, for it would weaken the cow too much if it was always kept with her. It is sufficient to let calves suck two or three times in a day; and to fatten them quickly, they should every day have raw eggs, and boiled milk and bread. At the end of four or five weeks calves thus taken care of will be excellent eating. It is sufficient to let a calf suck, designed for the butcher, thirty or forty days; but those which are intended to grow up should be suffered to suck for two months at least; the longer they are allowed to suck the stronger and larger cattle they become. Those brought forth in April, May, and June, are the fittest to be raised; for calves which come later never acquire strength enough to resist the injuries of the following winter, and almost all languish and perish with the cold. Before the milk is entirely taken from them, they should have a little good grass, or saintfoine, cut fine to accustom them by degrees to their future food; after which they should be entirely separated from the mother, and not suffered to go near her, either in the stable, or field. To the latter they should be taken every day, and suffered to remain from morning to night during the summer; but as soon as the cold begins in autumn, they should be taken out late in the morning and carried home soon in the evening; and during winter, as cold is extremely hurtful to them, they should be kept warm in a close well littered stable; and with their usual food, they should have saintfoine, lucerne, &c. and not suffered to go out, except in mild weather. Great care must be taken of them for the first winter, as it is the most dangerous time in their lives; for they get strength enough during the following summer not to fear the cold of a second winter.[E]

[E] It is evident here that our author did not draw his conclusions from a general view of the subject, but possibly rather from the practice followed in France, which, in many cases, with regard to cows and calves, is diametrically opposite to that pursued in England, both in respect to food and management.

At 18 months old, the cow arrives at puberty, and the bull when he is two years; but though they can engender at this age, it is better to keep them asunder till they are three years old. These animals are in their greatest vigour from three weeks old till nine; after this, neither cows nor bulls are fit for any thing but to fatten for the slaughter. As at two years of age they are almost at their full growth, the length of their lives is also, like that of most other animals, seven times that, or about fourteen years; they seldom live beyond fifteen.

In all quadrupeds the voice of the male is stronger and deeper than that of the female; and I believe there is no exception to this rule; though the ancients say, that the cow, the ox, and even the calf, have deeper voices than the bull; but the contrary is certain, since he can be heard much the farthest. What has afforded grounds to think that his voice is less deep, is, that his bellowing not being a simple sound, but composed of two or three octaves, the highest of which strikes the ear most forcibly, and the others are not perceived, yet if we give attention thereto, we hear a grave sound, much deeper than the voice of the cow, ox or calf, whose lowings are also much shorter. The bull only bellows when he is enamoured; the cow more frequently lows through fear and dread, than from any other cause; and the calf bellows from pain, want of food, or a desire of being with its mother.

The dullest and most idle animals are not those which sleep the soundest, or the longest. The sleep of the ox is short, and not very sound; for he awakes on the least noise. He usually lies on his left side, and the left kidney is always larger and fatter than the right.

Oxen, like other domestic animals, differ in colour; but the red appears the most common colour, and the redder they are, the more they are esteemed; some prefer the black, while others assert that those of a bay colour last longest; that the brown are sooner fatigued and shorter lived; that the grey, brindled, and white, are not proper for work, and are only fit to be fattened for slaughter. But whatsoever be the colour, the coat of the ox should be shining, thick, and soft to the touch; for if it is rough and uneven, it indicates the animal is not well, or at least of a weak constitution. An ox for the plough should be neither too fat nor too lean; his head should be short and thick, his ears large, with a soft even coat, his horns strong, shining, and of a middling size, his forehead high, his eyes large and black, his muzzle large and flat, his nostrils wide, his teeth white and even, his lips black, his neck short, his shoulders thick and strong, his breast large, his dewlap, that is, the fore part of the neck, long, and hanging down to his knees; his loins very large, his belly spacious and prominent, his flanks thick, his haunches long, his rump round, his legs and thighs big and nervous, his back straight and full, his tail hanging down to the ground, and covered with a fine tuft of curling hair, his feet firm, his skin thick and pliable, and his muscles large and elevated; he should also be sensible of the goad, obedient to the call, and well trained: but it is only by degrees, and beginning early, that we can make him submit willingly to the yoke. At the age of two years and a half, or three years at most, we should begin to use him to subjection; if it is deferred later, he frequently becomes unmanageable. Patience, gentleness, and caresses, are the only methods to be used; violence and ill-usage only serve to make him sullen and untractable for ever: he should be stroked and caressed, and frequently fed with boiled barley, bruised beans, and other nourishing food of the same kind, mixed with a little salt, all of which he is very fond; he should be frequently tied by the horns some days before he is put to the yoke; and he should at first be yoked to the plough with another ox of the same size which is already trained. They should be tied together at the rack, and led to the same pasturage, that they may become acquainted, and habituate themselves to the same common motions. The goad should never be used at the beginning, as it would only serve to make him ungovernable. He should only work a little at a time, for he is soon fatigued when not perfectly broke; and for the same reason, he should then have more food than at another time.

The ox should only be worked from three years old to ten; and he should then be taken from the plough to fatten, as the flesh will be better than if he be kept longer. The age of this animal is known by his teeth and horns. The first front teeth fall out when he is ten months old, and are replaced by others which are larger and not so white; at 16 months those on each side of the middle teeth drop out, and are replaced by others; and at three years old, all the incisive teeth are renewed; they are then all long, white, and even; and, in proportion as the ox advances in years, they decay, and become unequal and black. It is the same with the bull and cow; so that neither sex nor castration makes any alteration in the growth or fall of the teeth, nor does either make any difference in the casting of the horns, for they fall off at three years equally from the ox, bull, and cow; these are replaced by other horns, which, like the second teeth, fall off no more, only those of the ox and cow grow longer than those of the bull. The growth of these second horns is not uniform. The first year, that is to say, the fourth of the animal’s age, two little pointed horns sprout, which are even, and terminate at the head by a kind of knob; the following year this knob grows from the head, pushed out by a cylinder of horn, which forms and terminates also by another knob, and so on; for as long as the animal lives, the horns continue to grow; these knobs are easily distinguished, and by which his age may be easily known, by adding three years to the number of intervals between the other knobs.