yeaning ended

  With this same scourge did Juno wreak of old

  The terrors of her wrath, a plague devised

  Against the heifer sprung from Inachus.

  From this too thou, since in the noontide heats

  'Tis most persistent, fend thy teeming herds,

  And feed them when the sun is newly risen,

  Or the first stars are ushering in the night.

    But, yeaning ended, all their tender care

  Is to the calves transferred; at once with marks

  They brand them, both to designate their race,

  And which to rear for breeding, or devote

  As altar-victims, or to cleave the ground

  And into ridges tear and turn the sod.

  The rest along the greensward graze at will.

  Those that to rustic uses thou wouldst mould,

  As calves encourage and take steps to tame,

  While pliant wills and plastic youth allow.