CATTLE-FEEDING IN NEW YORK. . 311 



same amount of milk as before, giving, after first twenty days, one-half 

 pound of oat-meal and one pound of bran per day till three months old, 

 then during next t liree months one pound oats unground and two pounds 

 of bran per day, with pasture. This would make cost of first six months : 

 milk, $6.75; oats, $l.'i7; bran, $2.28; pasture, $1.80; total, $12.10. The 

 second six months' feed, 8 pounds of hay, with straw ad libitum, $7.28; 

 one pound of oats and two pounds of bran per day, $6.37 ; total, $13.65 ; 

 cost for the year, $25.75. The second year the cost would be : pasture, 

 $7.80 ; 4 pounds bran per day, with pasture, $5.40 ; cost of six months : 

 summer, $13.20. Winter feeding: 8 pounds hay, $7.28 ; 6 pounds corn- 

 meal, $10.92; 4 pounds bran, $5.40; six winter months, $22.60; cost 

 second year, $35.80. Total cost, two years, $61.55. 



This formula has produced an average live weight, with us, of 825 

 pounds the first year and 1,350 the second year. This steer will bring 

 6 cents, or $81 , and leave a i)rofit of $19.45. I do not feed corn or corn- 

 meal the first year, because the object should be to produce a large growth 

 of frame and muscle, and not to lay on fat excessively. Besides, corn- 

 meal is very apt to derange the digestive functions, producing a feverish 

 state of system. It is, however, allowable to grind one bushel of corn 

 with two bushels of oats, or one bushel of corn with one of pease; but 

 if peameal is used for calves, it should be cooked, when it will be found 

 an excellent food to grow a rangy calf. A variety of food will be found 

 preferable to any single kind, and we have found oats, bran, and corn 

 a combination promotive of both health and growth. 1 should advise, 

 when obtainable, the use of a small quantity of oil-meal or flax-seed ; 

 even a half-pound daily will have an excellent influence in winter-feed- 

 ing to keep the bowels in the proper condition where roots are not fed.' 



These estimates, it will be understo6d, are made to suit prices in New 

 York and most of the Eastern States, and of course are much too high 

 for the West, and higher than the prices of cattle-food often are in New 

 York; but they are intended to show that with all these points against 

 the Eastern States cattle may be raised at a profit. We have not esti- 

 mated the money-value of the manure, which would increase the profit 

 side of the account into fine proportions. The best English feeders 

 think themselves well paid if they can bere-imbursed for the cost of the 

 food in the value of the animal, charging all the labor and profit to the 

 manure. 



Let those farmers, who think these estimates produce steers of greater 

 cost than they can afford, take the trouble to estimate in the same way, 

 and as fairly as we have done, the cost of those common, thin, scrimped 

 animals which they do raise, and compare the cost with their value in 

 market, and they will then see forcibly the point we have tried to illus- 

 trate. If they will figure the cost of these common steers at two years 

 old, charging fair pri<;es for what they actually eat, it cannot be brought 

 under $35, and they will seldom bring in market over $25. This system 

 of full feeding and early maturity offers the only feasible plan by which 

 the lands of the Middle and Eastern States may be brought into a high 

 state of fertility. With this system, like the lands of England, they 

 may be caused to double their production in a quarter of a century. 



It offers a plan by which all the crops of the farm may be fed to ani- 

 mals, and so go back to enrich the soil, receiving a full compensation tor 

 the value of the crops in the sale of beef. And as a good augury for 

 the future, it is only the best animals that can be sold to supply this 

 great opening market for our meats in England; and we trust this may 

 be an eflectual stimulus to the farmers of New York to strive and grow 

 two animals where one has grown before, and that each animal may out- 

 weigh two of its predecessors. , 



