Animal breeding / by Laurence M. Winters.

  • Winter, Laurence Merriam, 1891-
Date:
1925
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Credit: Animal breeding / by Laurence M. Winters. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    CHAPTER XIX CARE OF THE DAM AND NEW-BORN 258. Before Parturition.—To the normal and average female, oestrum, copulation, gestation, and parturition are but a natural sequence of events, since they are her own response to nature. Therefore, all the normal female requires, during the period of gestation, is nature's олуп treatment, which is a nutritious ration (palatable, balanced, and containing sufficient minerals) regular exercise, and comfortable quarters. Since gestation usually occurs dur¬ ing the winter months, these simple necessities are not always so easily provided; and it has been the writer's observation, that following a long hard winter in the North¬ west when feed has run short and sheep and cattle have thus been forced more to the wheat-straw ration, and when the snow has been so deep that exercise for ewes and sows was made difficult, farmers have exceedingly more trouble with calves being aborted or born dead, lambs born dead or with goiters, and pigs born dead, hairless, or with goiters. As already indicated, it is not always easy to supply these simple requirements so essential to the brood animal's well- being; but, nevertheless, it is not only those animals housed in straw sheds that suffer in this respect; and furthermore, the great bulk of our farmers have not yet learned the great necessity of liberally raising fodder crops, particularly legume hays and ensilage crops. With the signs of approaching parturition, such as wax on teats, falling away at the hips, and a desire for solitude, the female requires some special attention. The bowels 264