HSi STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



rotation of crops, that he may feed all he raises. The most important ques- 

 tion with the feeder is the selection of the stock he is going to feed, for unless 

 he uses good judgment in buying or raising, lie will surely fail in his selling, 

 as the buyer always pays acccrding to the quality of the animal he buys. 

 Animals should be selected with reference to early maturity. The most 

 profitable time to feed, I claim, is during the first two years of an animal's 

 life, as the gro"wth is greater at that period, and costs less per pound, than at 

 any other age. To prove my assertion, I will take a calf that has been well 

 fed until one year old and weigh it, and I will have to keep it until it is three 

 years old to double its weight by feeding equally as well as before, so you can 

 make a pound of beef cheaper before it is two years old than you can after 

 that age. 



The same is also true in sheep feeding. There has not been a winter in the 

 last twenty years that I have not fed cattle or sheep, some years both ; but I 

 have not conducted the matter in that systematic manner by which as accurate 

 results are obtained as I should have desired, yet I know the feeding of stock 

 for market has been a source of profit to me. My practice has been, during 

 the last ten years, to buy my cattle— steers mostly from one to three years old 

 — during the summer or fall, or when ever I could strike a bargain. Eight 

 here, I think, is where the profit or loss comes, for there are cattle that would 

 be dear at almost any price for feeding purposes. Amongst this class are old 

 oxen, old cows, or stags, or cattle that have been half starved from a calf. A 

 farmer could never put his hay and grain to a worse use than feeding such 

 stock for market. I never bought but one pair of old oxen to feed, that was 

 the poorest investment in cattle I ever made. The feeder should never buy 

 any but thrifty cattle ; if he does, he will, in my estimation, feed at a loss. 



When my pastures get short in the fall I put my feeding cattle in the stables 

 at night and give them what hay they will eat, and a little mill feed or corn 

 chopped up, so as to keep them in a thrifty condition. When cold weather 

 sets in I think it best that the cattle to be fattened should be confined to the 

 stable during the most of the day, in fact, I think they would gain more by 

 keeping them in the stable all the time, but it is a convenience to turn them 

 •out to water, which should always be near at hand, and in sufficient quantities. 

 I am feeding now twenty steers, two and three years old, — each animal is fed 

 four quarts of meal in the morning, and what hay it will eat till about ten 

 •o'clock; then they are turned out to water, the stables cleaned and bedded 

 with straw, the mangers cleaned out, and about two or three o'clock the cattle 

 are again put in and fed the same amount of meal, and all the hay they will 

 eat till morning again. 



In feeding sheep, my practice is to buy sheep after shearing, or whenever I 

 can buy so that I think they will pay to hold, or when my pastures will permit 

 of more. In the fall I sort out what I intend to feed for the winter. I have 

 found it pays me to have an even lot, but I much prefer the fine-wools for 

 fattening, as they are healthier and stand close penning better. Last year I 

 fed a car load of fine-wool wethers, ISO of which I kept an account of the 

 number of days and amount of feed fed them, so I could tell what was the 

 profit or loss. I have a pair of Fairbanks's scales in my barnyard, and the 

 sheep were weighed when put in the pens, and when sold. They were fed 

 just seventy days. In the first place I will give the cost of the sheep, so we 

 can see whether it pays to feed them. I am certain I got a greater profit on 

 what I fed the season before, but I did not weigh my feed, so that I could not 

 .give as accurate results. I also fed four good thrifty steers last season. I 



