THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



prudent, in those days of rapid returns, of artificial food, of 

 early maturity, and improved breeds, to grow flesli and bone 

 by one process and fat by another ; it never was desirable to 

 make " two bites of a cherry ;" wc do not Rrow straw by one 

 process and corn by another ; and I believe, nationally, we 

 are wrong. I believe it is against tlie interest of the king- 

 dom, and of the agricultural community, to mature a beast 

 in four years, which could with greater profit be matured in 

 two years. It is only in accordance with reason that bone, 

 muscle, aud fat manufacturing should be proceeded with at 

 the same time. We now mature our sheep very young, 

 even killing them as hogsets at 1"2 or 15 months of age, and 

 they attain to a prodigious weight and size. Early 

 maturity in sheep grazing is justly_ considered one of our 

 modern improveuients ; and why, in practice, is not the 

 principle applicable to beasts as well as sheep? I have 

 fattened animals of different ages ; and I have found that 

 beasts fattened when young make the best return, and pay 

 the largest amount; they not only swell, but they grow 

 into monej', and fatten at the same time. With 

 animala which I have purchased from Buckinghamshire 

 as calves, and which I have commeuced to latten at 

 18 months of age, and sold at two years old, they have 

 averaged 50 stone of 141bs. each beast; when, had I given 

 them another year in the straw yard and at pasture, they 

 would not have exceeded, when fattened, 60 stones iu weight ; 

 consequentlj' 10 stones at 7s. 6d. per stone £3 ISs. would 

 represent the amount of pay per bead for one year's keep, 

 and I think it but a low figure, and poor remuneration for 

 12 months' feed. The following is an actual balance sheet 

 of calves reared and fattened, and sold at two years old ; 

 and I give it simply to show that by proper economy in 

 feeding, manure may be made without an actual loss in the 

 average of years, even by beasts, and to prove that beasts 

 will just pay for the roots and food consumed. Rely upon 

 it, judicious feeding, not the old-fashioned system of cram- 

 ming, is the secret of success in making the root crop pay ; 

 the object desired must not only be attained in a given 

 time, but it must be secured at the cheapest cost : — 



Dr. Balance Sheet. 



First cost of 20 well-bred shorthorned calves... £40 

 Month. 

 1 Milk, hay, tea, and artificial food, 4 



weeks x 2s. the week per head ... 8 



2l Mangold, hay, and meal, 8 weeks x 

 3 J Is. 6d. per week 12 



^1 



g I Grass and meal, and chaff, 20 weeks x 



J r Is. 6d. per week 30 



13 



14-1 

 15 I 



16] 



18 1 



19 f 



20 J 



Mangold and chaff, and meal and chaff, 

 20 weeks X 2s. per week 



Ditto, ditto, 12 weeks x 2s. per week 24 



Grass, at 2s. j 

 28. per week 



week, 16 weeks 



21^ 



22 



c^ I Mangold and chaff, and meal and chaflf, 



2^ )> at 7s. per week 24 weeks x 7s. 



25 I r^r week 



26j 



32 



168 



Profit 



£354 

 21 



Ck. 



£375 



The mangold wurtzels are charged at £9 per acre, the 

 meal at 9d. per peck, the hay aud grass at current prices. 

 Now, I am aware that this profit of £21 beyond the cost 

 of tlie purchase— the milk, corn, root, grass, hay, and 

 attendance— simply provides against casualties ; and in these 

 times of disease it must bo remembered the risk is much 

 less with animals well cared for, and well fed throughout, 

 than with those beasts exposed to hard fare and hard 

 weather, to the extremes of heat, and perhaps the vitiated 

 air of a steamer's hold and the extreme of cold in a railway 

 truck. It must further be remembered that if the profit is 

 small, the prime cost of all consumed by the animals 

 is paid for, and the muck ia free of any expense beyond the 

 cartage to the field. I am convinced rearing calves and 

 grazing young beasts, though entailing trouble, is a safer, 

 more paying, and less hazardous system than buying old 

 beasts. I am convinced it is right in principle, and I have 

 found it better in practice. I will now consider tlie question 

 of buying aud grazing old beasts. 1 am convinced it must 

 be right individually and nationally to produce the largest 

 amount of meat from a given amount of food. And for one 

 man as rearer to adopt a feeding process for two or three 

 years to grow the animal, and another man as grazier 

 a feeding process for one year more to fatten the animal, 

 as is often the case, must, in these days of early niaturity, 

 of quick returns, of improved breeds, and artificial foods, 

 be contrary to those principles of economy in time, and 

 economy in consumption, which it is desirable for us to 

 cultivate and carry out in practice. If the two — the rearer 

 and grazier of old beasts — were mutually benefited, who 

 would have cause to complain ? It would be a mutual 

 advantage ; but when it has grown to this, that the rearer 

 has always the best end of the stick, and pockets the total 

 profits, however small, whilst the grazier has none, either 

 with dear beef or cheap beef— I say, when the mutual 

 advantaue has so entirely ceased, it is high time for 

 the sufferer— the grazier — to seek- his own remedy in a 

 change of system suited to his occupation, and possessing the 

 promise and prospect of remuneration and profit. 1 should 

 like but one old bullock buyer— but one high bullock feeder 

 in the eastern counties, to come forward and prove by his 

 balance sheet that grazing has admirably answered his pur- 

 pose. If such an one there is, he is a rara avis indeed ; and 

 though I know not the one who has profited, I know well 

 the ninety -and-nine who are losers, and much " over the 

 left" by the practice. In grazing old beasts purchased 

 at recent prices, pecuniary loss has been my experience ; 

 complaints and accounts from private friends give a 

 concurring testimony; and when 1 examine published 

 statements, I can find but little recorded profit, and much 

 positive loss. We are all creatures of habit ; and in the 

 eastern counties we have so continuously purchased and 

 fattened beasts, and mainly supplied the metropolitan mar- 

 kets during the winter months, that " what has been must 

 be" ia too much our course of procedure, without an eflfort of 

 thought or of action to efl:ect a change. This observation is 

 especially true when applied to a system of long continuance 

 and of general practice. " What else should I do ?" " every- 

 one does the same," are the sedatives and narcotics of an 

 unpaying system ; and men are often at ease to share 

 a misery or loss with their fellow-men which they could ill 

 endure isolated and alone. I know many will saj', " I 

 must stamp my straw down." 1 reply, by all means; 

 but do it at a profit ! If you are content to do it at a loss, I 

 am not the man to swim with you ; if we are satisfied to do 

 badly, we shall never aspire to do better. I think, with 

 present prices and present prospects, the old bullock grazing 

 shoe has gradually contracted to pinch a little too tightly ; 

 and I am glad to have the opportunity of calling the atten- 

 tion, especially of my brother heavj^-land farmers, to the 

 subject in the eastern counties, and 1 simply ask each man 

 to revolve and re-revolve the question individually, "Am I 

 doing well .^ and can 1 not do better?" An intimate friend of 

 mine, a farmer of 400 acres of stiff retentive soil, has practi- 

 cally answered this question. He had bought beasts, and 

 fattened them, and lost money in the transaction, for a tew 

 years, till the following balance sheet in his experience 

 caused him to search for a less ruinous system. The 

 following are the items :— 



] 000 stone of beef, at 7s. 6d.per atone of 141b9. £375 



