Live Slock Properties to be regarded iw -5rse. (i3 



It is alfo fuppofed an advantage in the large animals, that the meat when prefer- 

 ved for future ufe is not only better, from the juices being more fully retained, but 

 from there being lefs wafte, on account of the external furface being proportion 

 ately lefs. 



And it is obferved, in regard to the opinion that animals of the fmaller kinds 

 are in general more hardy than thofe of the large breeds, that if it be meant merely 

 that they arc capable of fubfifting on Ihorter herbage, it is right ; as a large animal, 

 though it may have exactly the fame form as the fmall one, necefiarily requires 

 more time for reft. It feeds and removes itfelf with greater labour ; and notwith- 

 flanding it may be as ftrong again, as having double the weight, it will ftill in relation 

 to itfelf be a weaker animal. Its head and neck will be as heavy again, and from 

 their greater length, the weight will recede further from the centre of motion in 

 the moulder ; confequently increafe in power in proportion to the diftance ; and 

 the fame thing holds good in refpect to the whole of the limbs. In the flail, or the 

 fold, where large oxen are moftly fed, thefe difadvantages are of no confequence, 

 as the food is received without the trouble of looking for it ; and if the neceffity 

 of a better pafture does not proceed from the larger animal ccmfuming much more, 

 but from lefs power in collecting food, the confequence will be, that it muft ef af 

 ford the largeft weight of flefli with the fmalleft confumption of grafs.*&quot; 



Small-lized animals have been affertcd to be lefs prejudicial in poaching the 

 ground than large ones, on account of their feet being wider in proportion to the 

 \veight. It is however obferved by Mr. Knight, that&quot; the queftion is, whether 

 the feet and mouths of two fmall animals will not injure the herbage more than 

 that of one large one.&quot; It is remarked that fmali fheep do not poach the ground 

 at all : yet it is fuppofed that &quot;a fcore of thefe weighing a ton in the aggregate will 

 do more injury to a rich pafture in forty-eight hours than an ox of the fame weight 

 in a week,.&quot; Cows and oxen fhould, it is faid, be kept in the ftall and the fold 

 when the ground is wet during the winter, and capable of being injured by poach 

 ing ; and in the fummer it is not injured by the heavieft ftock. 



In cafes where the weight of meat is of no material confequence,as in dairy cattle, 

 the advantage may be on the fide of fmall animals,as fuch cows will giyc nearly the 

 fame quantity of milk feparately as thofe of the large kind j and are capable of 



* Knight in Commuaications to the Board of Agriculture,^!, II. 



