THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



THE COMING W I NTER. - ST O CK MANAGEMENT. 



Many will be the anxieties passing through the breast 

 of every stock-master during the ensuing winter, re- 

 lative to the sustenance and management of his live 

 stock, owing to the short supply and bad quality of 

 winter lood. We have seldom had to contend with such 

 a general failure of green crops, and the further calamity 

 of a spoilt hay crop, and a nnuch-injured straw crop; so 

 that we are in fact involved in the double difficulty of 

 providing substitutes for both the green crops and the 

 hay and strawcrops, or, what is equally difficult, to devise 

 the best means of economizing what we have of them, 

 and making them most available for food. 



The object of this short paper is to offer a few sug- 

 gestions under the trying circumstances in which we 

 are placed; for, in addition to the partial 1 'ss of the 

 green and straw crops, owing to the untowardness of 

 the seaso-', we have as a consequence the greater num- 

 ber of stock to provide for from the same cause. The 

 summer has been so cold and wet, and the grass so 

 deleterious, that numbers of both cattle and sheep have 

 failed to make themselves fat. Hence they are yet on 

 hand, and require good and nutritious food to bring 

 them oia and fit them for the fat st:ck market. This, 

 however, must be effected, at whatever cost in reason, 

 or the summer's grazing will be entirely thrown away, 

 and for this purpose the best of the food and the closest 

 attention must be yiven to them. The quicker they are 

 fattened the better. A very few weeks will suffice, under 

 good management, and a supply of plenty of good fsod, 

 with cake and corn, or either separately, to bring up 

 well-bred, but half-fatted animals, to a satisfactory 

 marketable state. 



The great question is as to what is to be done with 

 the store stock, so as to keep them in a progressive con- 

 dition ? How can the winter's food and fodder be best 

 economised and improved ? and what artificial additions 

 or aids can be made available ? 



What is to be done with the store cattle and sheep ^ 

 Store cattle. — In the first place, if store cattle are com- 

 pelled under this unfortunate state of things to partake 

 of inferior food and exist upon it, if exist they can, 

 they will be greatly aided by being made as warm and 

 comfortable in the fold-yards or byers as possible. A 

 little food, with warmth and quiet, is better than much 

 food with cold yards and bad lairage. Another thing is 

 to supply this inferior or unpalatable food in small quan- 

 tities, but very frequently. If a full crib is given, the 

 animal throws out the greater portion in order to find 

 something perchance that may prove palatable, and thus 

 much is lost; most unquestionably they will require 

 much greater attention and care to induce them to con- 

 sume the much-injured provender of the present season, 

 stuincd and tainted as it !--. This, however, we hope in 



some measure to obviate and aid by answering our own 

 next question — How can the winter's food and 

 fodder be best economised and improved ? First, 

 we may greatly improve the tainted straw and hay by 

 steaming it. True, we cannot make it more nutritious 

 by steam, but we can take away all taint, and make it 

 sweet and palatable, i. e., that which contains a large 

 per-centage of nutritive food, and wholly unsavoury, so 

 that cattle will not touch it, is by the action of steam 

 upon it made savoury, so that they will eat it with 

 avidity. And bear in mind that although fodder may be 

 much tainted, it still retains its nutritive properties. We 

 have the task of making it a palatable food, and this we 

 can do by steaming it. I speak from experience on a 

 small scale, and was and am surprised at the result. 

 Coarse, tainted, mouldy hay was made free from smell, 

 and to regain its hay flavour, by a short exposure to the 

 power of steam passing through it from the top of the 

 cask which constituted a receptable for steaming food, 

 and, being subsequently mixed with sliced or pulped 

 turnips, made a good and nutritious diet. Now, this is 

 one of the suggestions I desire to make — that great 

 resort be had to the steaming of tainted hay and straw. 

 For this purpose it must be cut into chaff. After it has 

 lain a while, on being taken from the steamer, a small 

 quantity of cut or sliced or pulped turnips or man- 

 golds should be mixed with it, and when cool the mass 

 will be ready for the stock. In this way much food 

 may be made very valuable, at no great cost, as the time 

 required to steam it is short. I shall not attempt any 

 lengthened detail of the process of steaming. The more 

 simple and inexpensive the apparatus the better. Min^ 

 is simply two large barrels (36-gaUon casks) hung on 

 posts, by a small furnace, to which is attached a steam 

 pipe, communicating with each cask alternately, steam- 

 ing one while the other is being emptied. 



Another suggestion I would make is relative to the 

 judicious admixture of pulped roots with cut chaff. It 

 may be impracticable to adopt sleam on an extensive 

 scale, but the cutting of straw into chaff may be gene- 

 rally adopted; in such case a judicious admixture of 

 pulped or sliced turnips, as effected by either Bentall 

 or Moody's machines, will be found very conducive to 

 make the most tainted hay or straw eatable food, and if 

 given in small quantities, the stock will consume it 

 readily. Another suggestion is that the dust of linseed- 

 seed cake be slightly scattered over such cut chaff. Salt, 

 again, in small quantity, will, in some cases, make it 

 palatable. Linseed porridge is highly useful in such 

 a mixing. This needs applying when warm, and the 

 chaff to be well turned as applied. Bean or pea or bar- 

 ley meal would answer admirably in making this straw- 

 ing food available, a slight dusting over steamed chaff 



