302 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



at the end of one hundred and fifty days would weigh 1,318 pounds, and 

 would bring, at 6 cents per pound, $79.08, having gained in value $39.08, 

 or nearly doubled. He fed of oil-cake an average of about 3 J pounds per 

 day, or 525 pounds per head ; of corn-meal, 8 pounds, or 1,200 pounds ; of 

 hay, 8 pounds, or 1,200 pounds. Counting these at rates of recent years 

 would give: oil-cake, $9.18; corn-meal, $12; hay, $6; in all, $27.18. This 

 would leave $11.90 to pay for his straw and labor. This is not intended 

 as an accurate statement of his gains for any one year, but only as an 

 approximate statement of his results. His cattle were often purchased 

 much lower, and the oil-cake for $12 to $18 per ton, and other feed in 

 proportion. 



Mr. Johnston was an excellent judge of stock ; knew what animals 

 would feed well, how to feed them, and last, but not least, how to sell 

 them. Besides, he proceeded upon the wise plan of making all the 

 manure he could, no matter how small the margin of direct profit in 

 feeding. He got his pay abundantly in the crops produced from the 

 manure. He has paid less attention to warm stables in feeding than is 

 generally considered requisite to the greatest economy ; but this may be 

 explained in the fact of his feeding cattle raised often without stables, 

 and too great a change in the habit of animals is not conducive to rapid 

 fattening. Mr. Johnston has been the best example of success in feed- 

 ing cattle raised by others with only common care, and fed by him with 

 only common appliances, but with much skill in the selection of food and 

 its proper proportion in the ration. Another example of a different style 

 of feeding may be useful. 



In 1870 we visited Mr. Otis S. Lewis, of Orleans County, New York, 

 who had for several years adopted the plan of buying about the 1st of 

 December, in the Buifalo cattle-yards, thrifty bullocks from the West, 

 averaging 1,200 to 1,300 pounds. He selected, as far as he could, cattle 

 that had been handled, so that they might take kindly to a warm stable. 

 These were put up and fed about one hundred days. The daily ration 

 was made up of 5 pounds of clover-hay, 15 pounds of straw, 9 pounds 

 of corn-meal, and one-half bushel of swede turnips, pulped and mixed 

 with the short-cut hay and straw, and then all thoroughly steamed to- 

 gether. Sometimes 4 pounds of wheat-middlings was substituted for 

 so much of the corn-meal. This ration came out of the steam-box with 

 a most savory and appetizing smell, and the cattle eat it with a great 

 relish. He bought cattle in good condition, requiring only a short time to 

 finish them for first-class beef. His lotof 25 head at this time cost 6 cents 

 per pound and averaged 1,250 pounds per head. At the end of one hun- 

 dred days they averaged 1,550 pounds per head, having gained 3 pounds 

 per day. They sold at 7f cents, and brought an average price of $1 20.12 ; 

 and, costing $75 per head, gave an increase of $45.12. He estimated 

 the cost of food, besides straw, at $20 per head, and the actual cost 

 of labor at $4, leaving $20.12 to pay for straw and profit. He was 

 able to raise turnips at 7 cents per bushel, but estimated them as worth 

 for feeding 12 cents per bushel. In other years the cost and sale price 

 were difierent, but the result nearly similar. Those cattle were fed iu a 

 warm stable, and not let out until sold. This ration seemed to have the 

 same eti^ct upon the cattle as the most succulent grass, and produced a 

 gain almost equal to the most favorable pasturage at the best season. 

 Mixing pulped turnips with the other food, and steaming, ditfused the 

 odor through the whole mass. It is a great point iu fattening to render 

 the food so very palatable that the animal is tempted to eat to the limit 

 of its digestion. 



