28S FARMERS' REGISTER— RAW AND PREPARED FOOD FOR CATTLE. 



REPORT OF THE UESUI^TOF EXPERIMENTS ON 

 FEEDING TEN IIOUNED CATTLE, AND AN 

 EQUAL NUMBER OF HOGS, ON RAW AND ON 

 PREPARED FOOD. 



By John Boswell, Esq. of Balmuto and Kingcausie 



From the Prize Essays and Tnmsactionsof tlie Highland Society 



of Scotland. 



[Subject continued from No. 4, Fanners' Register.] 



The reporter conceivino; the knowledge found- 

 ed upon the result of an accurately conducted ex- 

 periment as to the comparative profif of raw or 

 prepared tbod, to be a matter of much importance 

 to the farmer, determined on setting; about the in- 

 vestigation ol' the subject with all the cai'e and 

 zeal in his power; aiul accordingly, on the 15th 

 October 1832, selected ten cattle, which were in- 

 spected by Mr. Blackic and Mr. Walker at King- 

 causie on the fbllomngday. They were all dun, 

 horned, and not only of the same breed, btit per- 

 fectly alike, and almost all got by the same bull, 

 ■ — the weight of the lot to be put on raw being 183 

 Btones 11 lbs. Dutch, the lot to be fed on prepared 

 J79 St. 10 lbs, Dutch, 



The food, it may here be mentioned once for all, 

 was from first to last yellow bullock turniji, without 

 any leaves or roots, and round red or pink potato 

 commonly called Perthshire reds. The cattle be- 

 ing all exceedingly tame and quiet, took to the 

 raw food at once, but those which were put on tiie 

 Kteamed ibod hardly tasted it ibr several days, so 

 that by the 18th they had a very jaded appearance; 

 nothing, however, was given to them but fresh 

 steamed food, the stalls being carefully cleaned ev- 

 ery twelve hours, and tlte stale stuff given to the 

 pigs, A few of them took to it, and in a short 

 time they all seemed to relish the prepared as well 

 as the raw, although it was a Ibrtnight before they 

 looked so full and well as the cattle led on raw 

 food. The feeder (who had the charge of both 

 lots) was directed to put the raw turnips and pota- 

 toes into the stalls at the same time, when the po- 

 tatoes were regularly finished before one turnip 

 was tasted. On the other hand, the lot on pre- 

 pared food ])icked out the steamed turnips in pre- 

 JerencG to ti.e potatoes. 



As the reporter is aware that minuteness will be 

 e>;pected, he may here state that the turnip.s and 

 potatoes for the pi-epared lot having been weighed, 

 were very slightly washed, and the turnips were 

 thrown into the hopper of a sheer, and cut into 

 pieces about half an inch thick, after which they 

 were put into the receiver of a steaming appara- 

 tus, such as is described by Mr. Spears in the 

 Quarterly Journal. The potatoes, also when 

 washed, were thrown into another receiver. When 

 the steam was fully up, so as to lift the safety 

 valve, the cocks were turned, and in fifteen or 

 eighteen minutes they were read}^ to be thrown 

 into one large tub to cool, previous to being earned 

 to the cattle. During the tinie the turnips and 

 potatoes are subjected to the action of the steam, 

 large quantities of water are p<artly given off and 

 partly condensed, owing to the low temperature of 

 the raw food, so that the receiver would soon get 

 (in sailors phrase) ''water logged," if the atten- 

 dant did not every ihw minutes pull out the plug, 

 ond empty the space which is between the false 

 and real bottom of the receiver. This water, or 

 rather liquor, from the turnip receiver, has a most 

 agreeable sweet smell and taste, and this the feed- 

 er ,^evy off regularly dwjng the whole course of 



the experiment, and threw into the food tub. 

 That which (lowed from the potatoes, although it 

 had no unpleasant taste or smell, being rather 

 sweet, yet as there exists a strong prejudice 

 against potato liquor, was suffered to run oft' into 

 the grating. The winter wiLsnow advancing, the 

 cattle improving steadily and well, and both lots 

 keeping nearly alike, the only difi'erence being, 

 that the lot on raw consumed much more food 

 than those on steamed. As to fodder, the straw 

 during the first month, and the hay for the re- 

 mainder of the time, appeared to be the same. 

 The reporter sa}s appeared, because, although 

 the quantity given to each was weighed, and that 

 was the same, yet every one knows that the fod- 

 der is pulled about by the cattle and a portion al- 

 ways lost, but no difference could be observed. 

 Twice a-week, on fixed days, both lots got a 

 small quantity of the tops of common heath, 

 which acted in the way of preventing any scour- 

 ing; in fact, turnip cattle seem very fond of hea- 

 ther as a condiment, and there never was any 

 purging amongst the cattle under this experiment. 

 The dung of the steamed lot was from first to last 

 in the best state, Avithout the least appearance of 

 purging, and was fi-ee from that abominable smell 

 Avhich is observed when cattle are fed on raw po- 

 tatoes, or even when a portion of their food consi.sts 

 of that article. Another fiict was observed, that 

 after the steamed lot had taken to the field, they 

 had their allowance finished sooner than the raw 

 lot, and were therefore sooner enabled to lie down 

 and ruminate, The accompanying papers show that 

 the Ibod to both lots was proportioned to what the 

 cattle would eat; and the statement of Deacon 

 Williamson certifies that the two lots were exactly 

 alike both in weight and quality after they were 

 slaughtered. 



. The reporter has now to state what took place 

 with regard to pigs. Being anxious that there 

 should be no interiiirence as to food or any other 

 circumstance^, he preferred conducting this exper- 

 iment apart from the other, and therefore, on the 

 1st December 1832, caused his overseer at Bal- 

 muto to put up ten pig.=), all of one litter, in two 

 lots, which, by a little management, he succeeded 

 in getting exactly of the same weight, the lot to 

 be |)ut on raw food being 5 cwt. 2 qrs. 22 lbs., the 

 lot to be put on prepared food also 5 CAvt. 2 qrs. 

 I 22 lbs. The food employed was round red potatoes 

 and the best oat meal. Those on raw. food had 

 the oatmeal given them in the shape of "crow- 

 dy," i. e. the oatmeal mixed up with a little cold 

 water. The lot on prepared food had the potatoes 

 boiled and the oatmeal made into common water 

 porridge. From the very first it was clear that the 

 lot on the prepared fbod were fast beating the 

 others, and an increased quantity of oatmeal Avas 

 given to the lot on raw, in order to make them rea- 

 dy for sale along with the others; yet stdl, as may 

 be seen by the documents herewith given in, they 

 were greatly deficient on the 1st March, at Avhich 

 time the experiment being concluded, they were 

 put on prej)ared food, when they began instantly 

 to male up the ''lee-Avay. 



In conclusion, the reporter has to make the fol- 

 lowing observation: — It appears that it is not worth 

 the trouble antl expense of preparation, to feed 

 cattle on boiled or steamed food, as, although 

 there is a saving in food, it is counterbalanced by 

 the cost of fuel and labor, and could only be gone 



