SECBETARY'S REPORT. §7 



The object of the husbandman, like that of men engaged in other 

 avocations, is profit ; and like other men the farmer may expect 

 success proportionate to the skill, care, judgment and perseverance 

 with which his operations are conducted. 



The better policy of farmers generally, is to make stock hus- 

 bandry in some one or more of its departments a leading aim — that 

 is to say, while they shape their operations according to the cir- 

 cumstances in which they are situated, these should steadily em- 

 brace the conversion of a large proportion of the crops grown into 

 animal products, — and this because, by so doing, they may not 

 only secure a present livelihood, but best maintain and increase the 

 fertility of their lands. 



The object of the stock grower is to obtain the most valuable 

 returns from his vegetable products. He needs, as Bakewell hap- 

 pily expressed it, "the best machine for converting herbage and 

 other animal food into money." 



He will therefore do well to seek such animals as are most per- 

 fect of their kind — such as will pay best for the expense of procuring 

 the machinery, for the care and attention bestowed, and for the 

 consumption of raw material. The returns come in various forms. 

 They may or may not be connected with the ultimate value of the 

 animal. In the beef ox and the mutton sheep, they are so con- 

 nected to a large extent ; in the dairy cow and the fine wooled 

 sheep, this is quite a secondary consideration ; — in the horse, valued 

 as he is for beauty, speed and draught, it is not thought of at all. 



Not only is there a wide range of field for operations, from which 

 the stock grower may select his own path of procedure, but there 

 is a demand that his attention be directed ivith a definite aim, and 

 towards an end clearly apprehended. The first question to be an- 

 swered, is, what do we want? and the next, how shall we get it? 



What we want, depends wholly upon our situation and surround- 

 ings, and each must answer it for himself. In England the problem 

 to be solved by the breeder of neat cattle and sheep is how " to 

 produce an animal or a living machine which with a certain quantity 

 and quality of food, and under certain given circumstances, shall 



