274 EXPERIMENT IX CATTLE EEEDIXG. 



stuffs in twelve months, and yet gets on fairly well. All over 

 Scotland, however, the use of cattle feeding stuffs is rapidly in- 

 creasing, and they enable the farmer to turn out his usual 

 number of finished cattle even in years in which the turnip crop 

 is very deficient, as it was in 1877 and 1879. If the manure 

 value scale of Drs. Yoelcker and Lawes is to be trusted, the 

 use of some kinds of feeding stuffs is undoubtedly one of the 

 cheapest methods of increasing and maintaining the fertility of 

 the soil. 



In regard to cattle feeding, practical experience shows that if 

 they are supplied with a sufficiency of grass of very good quality,, 

 an addition of feeding stuffs does not much hasten the process of 

 maturity or fattening. If, however, the grass is of inferior 

 quality, feeding stuffs will very much promote their growth and 

 fattening. On all inferior pastures, if the cattle kept are of an 

 improved breed, some feeding stuffs should invariably be given 

 along with the grass, and nothing in cattle feeding will pay sa 

 well. The quality of the turnip crop is greatly influenced by 

 manure, soil, and climate ; and wherever from any cause the 

 quality is inferior, feeding stuffs to make up the deficiency ought 

 to be given. When turnips are of very fine quality and the 

 fodder good, cattle can be made quite fat with these alone, and 

 it becomes a question of relative cost whether it is judicious to- 

 use feeding stuffs or otherwise. Where turnips are of good 

 quality it would seem, from some experiments made by Mr. 

 Hunter, Dipple, Fochabers, and others, that it is unprofitable to 

 use linseed cake or grain, and at the same time give a full 

 allowance of turnips ; since very few turnips are saved the cost 

 is much greater, while the increase is not in a corresponding 

 ratio. It would seem that an animal can digest only a certain 

 quantity of the constituents of food, yet it will eat of some 

 articles at least a greater quantity than it can digest and assimi- 

 late. Hence if economy is studied when feeding stuffs are given, 

 an equivalent quantity of turnips should be withheld. 



In cattle feeding the profit or loss depends greatly upon the 

 age of the animals. Tor the last two years I have practised 

 w^eighing all my cattle and sheep once every four weeks, and 

 from this have had my opinions as to the unprofitableness of 

 keeping old animals fully confirmed. The improved breeds, if 

 well fed, increase in live weight at almost the same rate per 

 month from birth until thirty months old, and as the ox of six 

 to nine months old will consume scarcely one-thii'd of the food 

 required by the same ox when twenty- four to thirty months old, 

 it is evident that the younger animal will pay three times as 

 much as the older animal for the food consumed. An ox over 

 thirty months old will, as a rule, pay for its keep only if it has 

 been previously poorly fed and is in low condition, or if between 



