THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



Ii9 



the bulbs of the turnips are given to them to eat, the 

 tops and roots being cut off before they are removed 

 from the field where they have grown. This operation 

 is performed by a sharp sickle in the hands of persons 

 employed for the purpose. Longitudinal cribs, made 

 of latticed planks of wood, are placed in the 

 yards, in which the turnips are laid every morning 

 by break of day, and where the cattle eat them 

 undisturbed. The mud and filth are very care- 

 fully removed by the shovel every morning before 

 the fresh turnips are deposited. The eating of the roots 

 is finished by the time when darkness sets in, which 

 prevents any accidents happening to the animals, from 

 choking or hoving, during the night. The water is 

 supplied to each yard in cast-iron troughs, which are 

 fed by pipes, with ball-cocks, leading from higher 

 ground, or from elevated casks, to which the water is 

 raised by a force-pump. One trough of five or six feet 

 in length supplies two yards, by being placed across the 

 subdivision walls. The troughs require to be cleansed 

 out occasionally, in order to remove the earthy sediment 

 that falls to the bottom. This purpose is effected by a 

 plug-hole in the end of the trough, by which the watery 

 sediment escapes, to which it is driven by a brush in 

 the hand, and assisted by the trough being placed with 

 a gentle inclination to the end which contains the plug- 

 hole. The troughs are most convenient when the sides 

 are shelving. 



The young cattle are treated yearly in the manner 

 above described, till the third winter, when the animals 

 will be three years and a half old ; and then the fatten- 

 ing process commences. The animals are arranged by 

 the 1st of November in the feeding-yards, in lots of 

 two, and not more than four together ; it being a uni- 

 versal rule that, the smaller the number of animals that 

 feed together, the better they thrive. Accordingly, 

 many most eminent writers have recommended, and 

 many very eminent practitioners have adopted, the 

 mode of confining the animal " singly;" but the most 

 general practice is, two or four together. The yards 

 must be dry, have a good shelter-shed, and a regular 

 supply of water. Cattle eating turnips ad libitum do 

 not drink much water ; but it is better that they have 

 the liberty of taking or refusing it. In these yards the 

 cattle are supplied daily with fresh turnips, and in 

 quantity as many as they can consume, so as not to 

 leave any part to be wasted or reduced to a loss. Fresh 

 straw and hay are given daily in the cribs. In the 

 spring, in February and March, one feed of oilcake is 

 given daily, which hastens the process of fattening, and 

 improves the quality of the dung, by enriching the ex- 

 crements of the animal. The space of three months 

 may be stated, at a general calculation, as the time re- 

 quired to render an animal that is treated in the above 

 manner fat or fit to be slaughtered. But very much, if 

 not all, depends on the grazing state of the animal ; for, 

 if it comes from the pasture-field to the feeding-yard in 

 a "lean" state, double the above-mentioned time will 

 be required to bring the animal into even a medium 

 state of maturity. Hence arises the necessity of keeping 

 the ftnimals <' Always" in a forward, fresh condition 



during the years of their early growth. When a more 

 ample supply of food is given to an animal in this btate, 

 the fattening process commences immediately, because, 

 all the parts of the body being kept in a full state, an 

 instant readiness is afforded to the accumulation of ad- 

 ditional fat and fibre. But if the carcase is lean, and 

 wanting in the necessary quantity of muscular fibre and 

 offal to render the parts immediately susceptible of en- 

 largement, a time and a quantity of food are required to 

 produce that state of body, which are often very im- 

 properly included in the time required for fattening, but 

 which belong most exclusively to the grazing period. 

 Hence the justice of the remark, that cattle should be 

 fed gradually from their birth upwards. 



The age of four years has been fixed as the most ad- 

 vantageous time for catlle to be fattened and sold. The 

 animals that are most forward in condition will be ready 

 in February, when the sale will commence, and be con- 

 tinued regularly till May, in single animals or more 

 from the stalls, as they become prime for the butcher. 

 If any animals remain in May, that are not fit to be 

 slaughtered, they are sent to the field to graze, and are 

 sold during summer, as they become ready, under the 

 name of " grass-fed" beef. 



In the mode that has been now detailed, the rearing 

 and fattening of cattle becomes a systematic manu- 

 facture of vegetable food into fat and muscular fibre, by 

 means of the chewing and digestive organs of an animal. 

 To please the taste of these organs, and to afford them 

 the nutriment that is most proper for the required 

 purpose, constitute the whole art of the process now 

 described. The foundation of the system lies in the 

 young calf having an ample supply of the mother's milk, 

 continued till it arrives at an age sufficient to enable it 

 to live and thrive on other food. The after treatment 

 must be kind, always to promote the onward progress of 

 the animal. It is a very common mistake with rearing 

 of cattle, to pinch the quantity of food, in order that 

 they may be reared at little cost, and a more erroneous 

 idea cannot be entertained. An animal that is stunted 

 in growth, during its infancy, is never able to recover 

 the natural vigour ; the carcase never swells into bulk, 

 nor enjoys the lubricating essences, nor the nutritious 

 juices, that are necessary to promote the activity of 

 animal life. A more destructive practice cannot prevail 

 in any department of agriculture. 



It is a very common practice to give the calves, by 

 hand, the milk that has been drawn from the cow, and 

 held in a pail or bucket, from which the calf soon learns 

 to drink. A pinched allowance is also given them in 

 order to save milk, for the purpose of making it into 

 butter and cheese. But if these articles are imperatively 

 required, the making of them need not be attended with 

 ths starvation and abuse of the young animal ; for it 

 only remains to appropriate a certam number of cows 

 for the purpose of suckling the calves. House the other 

 part for yielding milk for the dairy. This method 

 answers both purposes, and removes the evil that results 

 from uniting them, whereby the one defeats the purposes 

 of the other. From whatever cause it may arise, the 

 fact is certain, that calves fed with milk, by band from 



