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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



turage, even should a favourable season produce such 

 on a poor soil. 



The art or science of grazing is no mean one, let the 

 querulous and the despiser say vyhat they may. The 

 politician has the cares of government upon him ; the 

 banker, his issues, his notes, and his drafts ; the mer- 

 chant, his goods, his trade, and his credit ; the manu- 

 facturer, his material, his orders, his patterns, his fabrics, 

 and his VForkmen ; the trader, his stock, bis customers, 

 and his bills. These and others, many and many, have 

 their own peculiar cares and perplexities ; but none are 

 exceeded in number or in proportionate importance 

 than those cares, anxieties, and perplexities daily expe- 

 rienced by farmers and stock-owners. Every animal is 

 an object of individual and of especial daily care, every 

 crop and every kind of crop is an especial object of in- 

 tense interest, as upon the success attending the one or 

 the other the farmer lives or droops. 



The profitable grazing of his stock, then, is to him a 

 matter of paramount importance, and great are his per- 

 plexities and doubts as to the best mode of carrying 

 this department of his business out. Much will depend 

 upon the character of the soil and pasturage with which 

 he has to do. The occupiers of lands of the first-class — 

 lands qualified to fatten readily the finest oxen — have a 

 plain course to pursue. Theirs it will be to depasture 

 with cattle of a high order ; to put cattle in high con- 

 dition, and requiring no great length of time, on good 

 pastures, to prepare them for the butcher, and to bring 

 them up to the first quality of meat. The next order 

 of lands would be the prime sheep-pastures. These 

 cannot be put to better purpose than in depasturing 

 sheep of good age and condition, and the quantity of 

 mutton and wool produced per acre goes well nigh to 

 exceed in profit the somewhat superior bullock-lauds. 

 Be that as it may, each variety of land is best to be 

 kept to its order of grazing — " bullocks" to bullock 

 land, " sheep" to sheep lands. 



The great difficulty that graziers have to contend 

 with, is to make the most profit of the intermediate 

 lands, and rotation seeds and clovers. Speaking gene- 

 rally, these had better be appropriated to breeding pur- 

 poses, dairying, and the grazing of young stock. Most 

 of the " sweet lands" in the Midland and other coun- 

 ties are well adapted for dairying uses, and nothing can 

 pay better where conveniences accord. The produce of 

 the dairy and the rearing of the young cattle are doubly 

 remunerative ; but there are exceptions : the majority of 

 common grazing lands are not well adapted for dairying. 

 These are best devoted to breeding purposes ; or if some 

 of the most fertile of these second-class lands are appro- 

 priated to fattening uses, it should be in conjunction 

 with artificial aids. Cattle and sheep on such lands 

 will fatten satisfactorily if liberally supplied with lin- 

 seed cake— from four to six pounds for a bullock, and 

 from half-a-pound to a pound for a sheep, depending 

 much upon their size and weight respectively. 



It is impossible to point out with any degree of accu- 

 racy a precise course of management for any particular 

 description of soils or pasturage, so much depends upon 

 contingencies^ but it may be desirable to allude to some 



of the many courses pursued. Let us take first the 

 grazing of such lands exclusively, and where breeding is 

 not followed. We have presumed that these lands are 

 not adapted for fattening purposes ; we therefore devote 

 them to the grazing or improving of young stock, or in 

 whatever way we can render them most profitable by 

 grazing. 



Sheep. — The first course I would suggest is to 

 purchase such a proportion of young sheep — hoggets 

 — as could be conveniently fatted off upon the winter 

 food crops — i. e., mangolds, turnips, &c. These would 

 have a good fleece of wool, grow in size and weight, and 

 would make good mutton in the winter and spring 

 months ; and if desirable they might be kept and re- 

 shorn in the early spring. Again, ewe hoggets might be 

 purchased in part; these to be sold in the autumn to 

 the breeders — often a profitable business. These, if 

 necessary, may be replaced by shearlings in the autumn 

 to fatten on the winter food, or be kept on, to be sold in 

 the spring to the summer graziers — in this state fre- 

 quently realizing as much money as when fatted, and at 

 less expense. Again, it is no uncommon thing to pur- 

 chase ewes and lambs : the lambs to be reared, wintered, 

 and sold to the summer graziers; and the ewes to be 

 fatted on the winter food , or sold as fresh drapes in the 

 autumn. In this way there is the loss of wool to be 

 put as a counterbalance to the number of lambs reared 

 and prepared for the winter's stock. Ewe wool is not 

 of great value, and weighs lighter. The better plan ap- 

 pears to be a combination of these orders of grazing 

 sheep. A mixed flock of sheep generally answers best; 

 they each select their own particular herbage as food ; 

 they do better conjointly, and the grazier is thus better 

 prepared to meet whatever class is most in demand at 

 the close of the summer's grazing. 



Cattle. — As breeding is not followed, the best course 

 appears to be to purchase such young cattle as will be 

 well qualified to fatten in the fold-yard during the 

 winter. These would mix and graze well among the 

 sheep if put on thin — say, one young steer to every five 

 acres. Their age should be about two-and-a-half years 

 to three years : such would come out remarkably fine 

 beasts, if well done during the winter on cake and 

 turnips or mangolds. A portion of the cattle grazing 

 should consist of such like animals ; but younger ones 

 might be profitably grazed, and whose chief improve- 

 ment is owing to increased growth. These would require 

 greater watchfulness and care, as being less hardy, and 

 probably frequent change of pasture would be requisite 

 to keep them thriving. Young heifers are frequently 

 in great demand in the autumn for breeding uses, and 

 often pay well for grazing. Young drape cows will 

 often thrive surprisingly well on scanty and somewhat 

 inferior pasturage, and fatten very rapidly on winter 

 food in the hovel or fold-yard. These animals are pro- 

 bably more sought after by summer graziers than any 

 other. They fatten on pastures not truly adapted for 

 such purpose ; and what is better probably, they are in 

 grea" request b country butchers. Another profitable 

 mode of grazing these lands is by depasturing thereon 

 in-calved heifers These are purchased in the autumn, 



