56 South Devon Cattle. 



stock are taken indoors and remain there at night until April, 

 although the owners of the largest existing herd do not bring 

 their cows in at night unless the ground is snow covered. 

 The ship pens have been greatly improved of recent years, and 

 the value of spacious and well-ventilated sheds is generally 

 recognised. The cows benefit by being turned out into the 

 yard and by having a few hours in the pastures daily, unless 

 the climatic conditions are altogether too severe, and that is 

 seldom the case in this country. Cabbages, while they last, are 

 fed to them, together with hay, chaff and pulped roots, and 

 from four to six pounds of cake, linseed or cotton, crushed 

 oats or maize meal, morning and evening. Various feeding 

 compounds are also used. Much depends upon the com- 

 mon sense of the farmer, who must needs keep his eye on 

 the maintenance of the milking qualities and vary the diet to 

 suit it. 



The steers fatten freel}^ on good pastures from May to 

 September, requiring very little in the shape of artificials in 

 that period, although it may be ne<>essary where the grass is 

 not particularly good to supplement it by the moderate use of 

 linseed cake. Two-year-old steers of the breed frequently bring 

 a return of 201. or more to their breeders, and those of two- 

 and-a-half years as much as 251., making them a remunerative 

 investment. 



The indoor feeding of cattle in winter differs very little 

 from that of the milkers, except that they need more liberal 

 supplies of cake, linseed bringing them quickly into marketable 

 condition. No hard and fast rule for feeding can, however, be 

 laid down, for every breeder is a law unto himself, and of 

 necessity regulates his practise accord mg to the depth of his 

 pocket, combined with the peculiarities, to be overcome in 

 relation to his farm, whether the ground is poor or rich, and 

 whether it is on hilly exposed land, or situate in sheltered 

 valleys ; but anyone accustomed to the care of milking cattle, 

 or feeding them for the butcher, Avill find the South Devons 

 docile, kindly beasts, responding readily to good feeding and 

 needing no extraordinary care to make them remunerative both 

 for dairy and butchery purposes. 



These qualities have been so thoroughly demonstrated by 

 long and practical experience that in South and West Devon 

 the South Devon is the dominant breed. In South, East and 

 West Cornwall they are also more numerous, particularly for 

 dairy purposes, and a number of Mid-Cornwall farmers are 

 going in for them. Throughout the West Country generally 

 there are herds here and there, and they do well on such a 

 variety of soils, and under such varying conditions, that it is 

 difficult to say which suits them best. 



