No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 241 



such food and at sucli times as to have each gain steadily every 

 day of its life up to maturity; but if one does know the relative 

 value of the several foods at his disposal, he can nearly always save 

 money in compounding needed rations. It is an art to feed live 

 stock of any kind in such a way as to secure the best possible results. 

 We feed enough, in most cases, but we do not pay enough attention 

 to what we feed and how we feed. It does not pay and is not nec- 

 essary, as a rule, either to grind or to cook food for mosit kinds of 

 stock. But it does unquestionably pay to supply the lambs, the 

 calves, and the colts with the choicest of early cut hay, with a little 

 oats, bran and oil meal, rather than to feed them straw, corn fod- 

 der, or corn. When animals are young they will make their gains 

 the cheapest. We want them to make all possible gain not only 

 because they make it cheaply at this period of their lives, but be- 

 cause, if they are colts, we want them able to begin work. If they 

 are dairy calves, we want them to grow as much as possible without 

 becoming coarse, so that they will start with 300 pounds of butter 

 production in a year, when two years old. If they are steers that 

 are to be fed for beef, they should be finished when thirty months 

 old. To accomplish results of this kind, it is necessary not to allow 

 them to lose their *'milk flesh" nor to stand idle a single day, since 

 a stagnation in growth at any period means loss to the owners. 



Feeding does not consist merely in putting a certain amount of 

 food before an animal once or twice a day, but, after studying the 

 peculiarities of each individual, in satisfying, so far as possible, his 

 every want. There is a German adage, ''The eye of the master 

 fattens his cattle." Too much emphasis can not be put upon study- 

 ing to know the wants and needs of the animal you are caring for. 

 It is the keystone in the breeder's arch of success. The principles 

 which every successful breeder must bear in mind are few; the de- 

 tails involved in working them out are many and cannot be definitely 

 stated. The most important of these principles, as summed up 

 briefly by Prof. Shaw, may be stated as follows: 



1st. Animals must possess quality before they can be fed with 

 marked success — quality usually involves the consideration of breed- 

 ing, form, and handling when making selections for feeding. 



2d. More food is required to make a given gain as the birth period 

 is receded from, in consequence of the decreasing activity of the as- 

 similative functions and the increasing requirement of food for 

 maintenance with advancement of age; hence early maturity is an 

 important essential in all animals. 



3d. When periods of stagnation occur before maturity, the food 

 of maintenance during such periods brings little or no return. Usu- 

 ally the loss is proportionate to the continuance and completeness 



16—7—1900 



