The Banner-Democrat., 1900-10-13
INSTINCTS OF THE COW.
.ovE FOR HER CALF SHOWN IN SOME
CURIOUS WAYS.


ception-Cattle Arc Great Pathmakers.
Cattle are not merely gregarious-
hey have an instinct of neighbOrli.
hess and comradeship almost human.
Further, mOther-love among them per-
sists long after the period of helpless
aess of the calves. A COW knows her
calves, likes them and moos to them
when they are full grown. with calves
If their own. She lows lamentation
4 they are sent to separate pasture,
Ind recognizes them after six months
,r even year of separatipni this, or
course, on the commons where normal
Instincts persist and even strengthen.
Stall feeding does not develop heart or
mind In cattle any more than In hu-
nan beings.
Once mt least this continuing mother
owe prevented bad blood between
1eighbors with a possible suit at law.
Two COWS upon adjoining farms drop
ped within the same week calves 30
nearly alike it would have puzzled
that traditionally wise person, Phila-
ielphia lawyer, to know one from the
,ther. They were heifer calves, dun.
with q white spot in the foreheao
md the barest tip of white In the tails.
Dun was a rare color upon the range
around about so both the youngsters
we're looked ut with interest. They
we're weaned in the fall and turned
out next spring to find their own nv-
ng in the natural blue grass meadows
along the creeks. Food was abund-
ant; the creeks had also many wind.
lngs, with here and there in secluded
places remnant fringes of cane. The
iun heffers throve so finely and fell
90 in love with freedom that they did
aot come home in the fall as did
other well-conducted young cattle.
lust what they did do was never
known. The spring they were two
year old, one owner went looking for
his property and discovered a fine,
saucy young cow with a pretty frisky
calf at foot, grazing happily, 10 miles
away.
Neither yearling had been marked
before turning out. So the finder was
quite justified in assuming that ne
had found his own, ana taking her
home rejoicing. There his nelghDof
at once claimed her saying be knew
her by peculiar indentation in the
white star. As the other dun was stIi
missing, there was room for very
pretty quarrel, until it was agreed to
let the old cows decide it. The three
were turned together in pasture.
At first both the old cows looked
askance at the young one. and after
little made rush at her as IL 10
bear her to her knees. But as they
got within three yards of the young
ster. who stood tossing her horns de-
family the claimants cow half
wheeled, butted the other in the flank.
sent her reeling, shifted gently at the
stray, then began to lick her on the
neck and brisket. just as she licked
her own new calf. The demonstra-
ton was conclusive-the> men shook
hands on it, and the stray dun went
home with her mother.
Whether from instinct or calcula'
ton, cattle have q curiously accurate
sense of time. If they are salted every
other morning at certain
spot, they will be prompt almost to
the minute, though they may not
come near the place between times.
Dairy maids whose mixers run out,
give them "a lick of salt" or meal, as
they say ito ha'nt 'em home" Hence
no doubt comes the cant rural prOverb.
expressing mulish obstinacy: 4
wouldn't do it for lick of salt.
Buck and Brandy were brinded OK
Ell, yoke of renown throughout the
countryside. They had horns yard
from tip to tip, intelligent. black.nosed.
white starred faces, and beautiful
bushy tails. Broken together at a
wear old, they worked and played and
grazed side by side until they were
rising seven. Then Brandy, falling
lame, was turned out for a long rest,
his owner thinking to fatten and sell
him in the fall. Buck at once quit
| work. Yoked to cart or plow, or OK
wagon, he simply lay down. The goad
could not move him. AS soon as he
was free, though he had never In his
life tried to jump fence or throw one
down, he straightway made a breach
somewhere and went through 1t to his
comrade. AS result his owner sold
| two stall fed oxen in place of one. In
death as In life the two were not di-
vided.
The prodigal calf gets rough re-
ception upon his homecoming. The
herd looks upon him at long range,
bellows defiance and scorn of him.
then keeps on with his own affairs.
If the prodigal hangs modestly back,
feeding upon the outskirts for day,
or may be a week, never obtruding
himself, and running from each
lowered head or brandished horn, he
may in the end be grudgingly accept
ed. But if he comes boldly in, crowd
ing for salt, snatching at forage, an
swering bellows with a low, disdain
full moo, he must conquer a peace OF
90 to the wall. At first the herd-lead
er rushes at him, butts him to his
knees. and tries to roll him over, but
does not gore him. 1t the stray stands
up stoutly, or gives the leader a fail
resistance, he may win out right there
But If he is badly worsted, yet lack:
the sense to profit by defeat, an(
keeps in place, next time there VII
be a combined rush that Will leave
him with whole bones. it is true. bu
badly scratched coat, and sore al
over from the ;yrramelling horns.
Atavism perhaps explains why cat
tie go mad at the smell of blood-es
pecially the blood of their own species