THE ANGXrS-ABERDEEN CATTLE. 167 



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^^V Before this it should have learnt to eat linseed cake, getting one 

 ^^m pound a day up to one year old, after which decorticated cotton 

 ^^H cake may be substituted with good results. In the first winter 

 ^^m turnips should be given twice a day, and plenty of oat straw. 

 ^^K When on grass neither yearlings nor two-year-olds have any cake ; 

 ^^m the former remain out till October 1st, but the latter are taken 

 up about the end of August or beginning of September, to be 

 specially prepared for the London market. Plenty of turnips 

 and straw with two pounds a day of decorticated cotton cake, 

 and later on bruised oats in addition sufiiced to produce prime 

 animals weighing from eight to eight and a half hundredweight. 

 Mr. Anderson's experience is that he can make 6s. a hundred- 

 weight more of the pure bred than of their crosses, because the 

 bone and offal are less, and the quality of the beef first rate. 

 To an English feeder the quantity of artificial food is small, but 

 the roots and straw are of much superior quality. Moreover 

 many might consider that whole or sliced roots was not the most 

 economical method of feeding. One thing is quite certain, viz., 

 that healthy good breeding stock can only be secured by very 

 natural treatment, and, whilst the young bulls and steers for the 

 grazier cannot, in reason, be done too well, dairy cattle and 

 heifers from a year old must be kept on the natural produce, and 

 not allowed to become fat, if we would maintain the hardy, 

 healthy, and prolific character for which the breed has been 

 famous. Like the Hereford, too little attention has been paid to 

 dairy properties, and this is a mistake which breeders are begin- 

 ning to recognise, and will, we trust, correct. 



