276 HOUSE-FEEDING OF CATTLE 



dressed beef if in an open yard with a shelter shed, and put up 

 to increase 12.2 Ibs. of beef per week, 1 may receive on an 

 average 6 Ibs. of a mixture of cake and meal per day 

 (beginning with 4 Ibs. and finishing with 8 Ibs.), } cwt. roots, 

 12 Ibs. straw (partly chaffed), or, when expedient, a limited 

 portion of this replaced by hay of equal money value a 

 small foddering once a day ; but it will not pay to give 

 fattening cattle hay worth 4 or 5 per ton. In boxes or 

 covered courts a saving of J cwt. of roots might be effected. 

 As cattle in open though sheltered courts not only eat more 

 but often gain more weight than those entirely under cover, 

 it remains an open question which is the more economical 

 system. The breed of the animal will usually make all the 

 difference one way or the other. 



The following was M'Combie's method of feeding: 

 At 6 A.M., or earlier, half the artificial mixture was given ; 

 in about an hour, when this was eaten, one-third of the 

 roots; at 12 o'clock another one-third of the roots; at 5 P.M. 

 half the mixture of cake and meal ; and at 9 P.M. the re- 

 maining roots, and perhaps a little rough hay in the racks. 

 Uncut straw was provided during the day as well as chaff. 



The late Walter Elliot, of Hollybush, Galashiels, N.B., 

 fed cattle that got a good start as calves to go away fat 

 before losing their calf teeth, clearing them out as stirks 

 between October and January. Having tried stalls, single and 

 double loose-boxes, open and covered courts, he preferred 

 covered courts to any of the other arrangements, because the 

 cattle agree better than in open courts, and the superior 

 quality of covered court manure pays good interest on the 

 cost of the extra roofing when it is put up on a good principle. 

 One man attended to sixty cattle in yards. About J cwt. of 

 turnips was allowed to each animal per day, with clover hay, 



1 Classes are provided at Chicago for cattle under a year old, a 

 practice not followed at Smithfield. The greatest daily gain in weight is 

 made by .calves under a year old, and the Chicago results show that a 

 Shorthorn calf weighing 993 Ibs. at the age of 335 days had gained 2.96 

 Ibs. daily ; a Hereford, weighing 934 Ibs. at 330 days, came next, having 

 gained 2.83 Ibs. daily. The weight of the calves at birth is here 

 included. The weight of an ordinary Shorthorn calf is about 75 Ibs., but 

 some are much heavier. An Aberdeen-Angus calf, the property of A. D. 

 Mitchell, West Loch, Eddleston, Peeblesshire, was born in 1906, which 

 measured 36 inches round the heart and weighed 164 Ibs. 



