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The Couiiiiy Gcittlcinaiis Magazine 



An apt illustration of the justness of 

 these remarks will be found in the results of 

 an experiment made by the late Lord Ducie 

 at Whitfield, which, although perhaps known 

 to some of cur readers, may not be familiar 

 to all. One hundred sheep were placed in a 

 shed, and ate 2 1 lb. of swedes each per day ; 

 another hundred were placed in the open 

 air, and ate 25 lb. of swedes per day, yet, at 

 the end of a certain period, the sheep which 

 were protected, although they had a fifth less 

 food, weighed 3 lb. a-head more than the 

 unprotected sheep. The reason is very ob- 

 vious ; the exposed sheep expended a large 

 proportion of their food in keeping up their 

 animal heat, which was rendered unnecessary 

 in the case of those which were under shelter. 

 There was thus a gain in the increased weight 

 of the animals, and also in the saving of a 

 fifth part of the food, which is a consideration 

 of no small moment at a season of the year 

 Avhen food is, for the most part, scarce. 

 Shelter, therefore, by affording warmth to the 

 animals, is directly advantageous, and de- 

 cidedly economical, so that it ought to be 

 one of the first points attended to in the 

 management of live stock from birth until 

 their final departure to the fat market. 



And, although it may, in some respects, be 

 rather out of place, we would desire to notice 

 what we consider a very reprehensible 

 practice— namely, that of shearing fat sheep 

 at an unusually early period in spring, 

 previous to being sent to market. This 

 practice is followed, perhaps, more in the 

 case of the London market than any other, 

 and we see sheep denuded of their Avarm 

 fleeces, and exposed to the bitter blasts of 

 early spring, from a desire on the part of their 

 owners to reap what they suppose a double 

 advantage, in having the fleece to dispose of 

 as well as the animals from which the wool 

 was taken. But the advantage is very doubt- 

 ful. Comparatively short as the time is 

 during which the unfortunate animals are ex- 

 posed to the cold, it is sufficient to have a 

 depreciating eff'ect on their value as meat, and 



as the butcher takes the state of the skin and 

 its covering of wool into consideration when 

 making his purchase, he of course gives much 

 less for a sheep "out of the wool" than he 

 would do for the same if left unshorn; so that, 

 altogether, it is, as we have said, very doubt- 

 ful if the early shearing of fat sheep puts 

 anything in the owner's pocket. Viewed in 

 another light, it is cruelty to the animals 

 when they are deprived of their natural 

 covering at a time when its warmth is still 

 necessary for their comfort. 



To resume, we ask, are the principles 

 which have been laid down as essential to the 

 prevention of waste of food duly attended to 

 in the general management of live stock 

 throughout the kingdom ? There are districts, 

 no doubt, where we find little to desire with 

 reference to this point, but in very many in- 

 stances this is not the case. Not only are 

 young beasts kept out all winter in the pas- 

 tures, without any shelter save that of a 

 ragged fence, and without any additional food 

 as a help to what they may pick up, unless 

 in very stormy weather— that is, during a long 

 tract of snow and frost, when some middling 

 hay is given to them, mostly thrown down on 

 the ground ; but we also find dairy cows, heavy 

 in-calf, exposed to precisely similar treat- 

 ment. And when, as in other parts, the 

 cattle are enclosed in yards, it is but 

 too frequently the case that the yards 

 are without shelter sheds of any description, 

 and the poor animals are condemned to 

 wade through a mass of wet filth up to their 

 knees, and pick up a living from the not too 

 liberally supplied straw racks with which 

 those yards are furnished. Barley straw 

 and water is but poor feeding for stock, 

 but even barley straw and water would be of 

 more service if consumed by the animals in dry 

 warm sheds. We may boast of our advance- 

 ment as agriculturists, but so long as such 

 practices as those we have described con- 

 tinue to exist in any part of the country, we 

 should at least boast with moderation. 



