FEEDING OF CATTLE. 635 



combined, but grass which is suitable for hay is not always the 

 most desirable for constant cropping by cattle. Clover is desirable. 

 Blue grass has no superior for pasturage. Its growth is very 

 extensive; it is available early and remains fresh till the snow falls. 

 The wire-grass of the Middle and Northern States is wholesome, 

 furnishes a large amount of nutrient food and is first-rate grass for 

 pasture. Orchard grass, in good form, is excellent food. Where 

 land too rough or hilly for cultivation is devoted to pasturage, it 

 should be seeded with a variety of grasses, and the same is necessarv 

 when "seeding down" for the recuperation of land. It will be weu 

 for pasturage purposes to combine timothy, clover, red-top, wire 

 grass and orchard graoS in feeding. No pasture is complete without 

 an ample supply or pure water, whether a running stream, which is 

 best, or supplied by artificial means. 



Profitable Addition to Pasture Feed Some of the 

 best breeders in the United States (who feed to the best advantage 

 and whose products command the best prices) make it a rule to 

 supply cattle which are feeding (no matter how good the pastures 

 into which they can turn them) with a certain quantity of grain. 

 This practice is to be commended and all breeders will find them- 

 selves benefited by it. In England, cattle fed on grass are also 

 given corn-meal or linseed cake in addition. It must be understood 

 that this recommendation does not conflict with the superiority of 

 grass as a fattening food ; but it is necessary to supply deficiencies 

 which sometimes occur in the grass, and an addition of grain pro- 

 motes health and will add materially to the weight. 



Proper Shelter and Housing The breeder is to bear 

 in mind that a great proportion of food consumed goes to supply the 

 necessary animal heat, and the amount and quality must there- 

 fore be dependent, to a large extent, upon the temperature in which 

 the animal exists. Even in summer, animals must have a shelter to 

 which they can resort for protection from storms, cold rains and 

 unfavorable weather. In winter, however, warm shelter is a part 

 of the economy of feeding, for if there is insufficient shelter a large 

 proportion of the feed which otherwise would go to make flesh and 

 increase fat, is consumed by the demand of the body for heat. Any 

 expense which this entails is amply repaid in the earlier period at 

 which an animal will mature, and in his increased weight and value. 

 Thus a fattening animal which has been winter-fed and sheltered 

 will realize more slaughtered at twenty -four months than the same 

 animal left exposed in the winter and killed at three years. In this 

 connection, it should be borne in mind that light and ventilation 

 are indispensable accompaniments to warmth. 



Most Profitable Feetl for Winter Fattening; 

 Clover and corn, to which may be added cornstalks, are good fat- 

 tening food. Peas and oats may be used to advantage. Corn- 

 stalks with the ear corn are good feed and large herds of cattle in 

 the West are fattened upon these alone. Corn is an excellent fat- 



