FARMERS' REGISTER— STALL-FEEDING NEAT CATTLE. 



395 



perienced graziers Avho prefer air during the ut- 

 most inclemency of winter. Air is, indeed, indis- 

 jiensably necessary to the preservation of the 

 health and the speedy fattening of animals; for, if 

 kept too hot, they will perspire profusely, and their 

 hides will itch; this vexes them exceedingly, and 

 necessarily retards their quick feeding, yet some 

 very eminent graziers have pursued this plan with 

 considerable success.* 



When grass (whether natural or artificial) is to 

 be given, it ought to be cut m the morning for the 

 evening fooil, and in the afternoon for the morn- 

 ing; the afternoon crop should be carried to the 

 barn, or some other convenient place, and spread 

 out in order to exhale its superfluous moisture; 

 and, in rainy weather, both crops must be taken 

 off the ground. Attention, however, ought to be 

 paid to the due proportion to be cut; and, until that 

 fact be ascertained, it is a good plan to measure 

 each mess, and to chalk down the quantity in 

 loeight, winch the basket, cart-body, or other 

 vehicle employed for carrying food, contains of the 

 various articles used tor that purpose. The prac- 

 tice will, at least, have a tendency to teach farm- 

 servants to observe method, the vidue of which is 

 of considerable importance m all business, and in 

 none of more than in the various branches that 

 are connected with husbandry. In the early part 

 of the season, when tares and clover are either in- 

 adequate to the support of the stock, or that it 

 may be thought expedient to change them gradu- 

 ally from dry to green food, a portion of these 

 grasses may be mixed with the hay or straw on 

 which the cattle are fed; and, if the mixture be 

 made up over night, the' dry provender will be 

 lound to have acijuired a sweet vegetable taste, 

 and to be rendered so moist and palatable as to be 

 more readily eaten. 



As the various grasses peculiarly calculated for 

 grazing or soiling cattle, will be particularly detail- 

 ed in a subsequent Book,t we proceed now to 

 state a few of those articles which havff been 

 found most useful for the purpose of winter or 

 Etall-feedmg, or of feeding in the farm yard. 



Of stall-feeding neat cattle. 



This branch of the grazier's management be- 

 gins towards the end of October, and lasts for 

 about seven montlis, that is, till the commence- 

 ment of May. Ot" all vegetable productions, 

 good hay is undoubtedly the best for fiittening cat- 

 tle, though such hay, except on the most luxuriant 

 soils, will rarely be found capable of fattening 

 animals when finishing oft^ for the market, unless 

 judiciously combined with cabbages, carrots, par- 

 snips, turnips, or similar succulent plants; or oil- 

 cake. Rarley, rye, oat or j)ea-meal, if mixed to- 

 gether, in about equal proportions, with the occa- 

 sional addition of a small quantity of bean-meal, 

 may likewise be given with advantage, in the 

 ratio of a quartern, or at most half a peck, to each 

 head of cattle, in conjunction with cut hay, if the 

 price will admit. Of the last-mentioned article it 

 may be observed, that the hay made Worn grass 

 mowed after the cattle, is usually employed for 

 feeding live-stock at the beginning of winter; the 

 best being reserved for the spring; and where a 



• See the following Chapter, 

 t Book IX. 



handful of salt has been thrown over each load, 

 when stacked, so grateful is this to them, that they 

 have been known to prefer poor hay salted to good 

 hay unsalted. Salt acts as a condiment, which 

 appears to assist the digestion; and, from the avi- 

 dity with which ruminating animals eat it, nature 

 seems to have intended it for their benefit. 



One of the most luxuriant of all vegetable pro- 

 ductions is the cabbage with its numerous varieties, 

 which, when combined with cut ])ea or oat straw, 

 has been found singularly useful as winter fodder 

 for store stock; and which, with the addition of 

 good hay, will fatten oxen or bullocks in the short 

 space of five months, besides yielding a larger 

 quantity of manure than almost any other article 

 used for winter iced. 



Parsnips have been employed not only for feed- 

 ing store cattle, but particularly for flitting oxen, 

 which eat them with great appetite; the benefit 

 thence derived being, in the estimation of some 

 graziers, nearly equal to that obtained from oil- 

 cake: but they are a])t to cloy the appetite, and 

 should therefore be given with other food, or if 

 alone, they should not be continued for a long time 

 together. In Jersey, where they are largely used 

 as food for all animals, bullocks are fattened on 

 them in three months. The flesh is considered 

 superior to any other beef, and commands an ad- 

 ditional price. To liogs. they are given at first 

 raw, and afterwards boiled, or steamed, and dur- 

 ing the last fortnight with bean or oat-meal. The 

 animal is thus sufficiently fatted in about six 

 weeks; the flesh is more esteemed than that pro- 

 duced by other means, and is said not to waste in 

 boiling.* 



Next to parsnij^s v.^e may class the carrot; a 

 most useful root, the produce of which is so abun- 

 dant that, according to an account of Mr. Young, 

 four bullocks, six milch kine, and tioenty work- 

 horses were fed, a ihw years since, at Partington, 

 in Yorkshire, for about j^ue months, with carrots, 

 the produce of three acres, with no other addition 

 than a liitle hay throughout that period. He adds, 

 that the milk was excellent in point of quality and 

 flavor; and the refuse or waste, 'wath a small quan- 

 tity, of other food, fattened thirty swine.f 



"Mangel-ivurzcl comes next in order in feeding 

 cattle: indeed, in some late experiments it has been 

 found superior to carrots, and nearly equal to par- 

 snips.J 



7'urnips, especially Swedes, also supply a nu- 

 tritive article of winter food; though, from their 

 peculiarly moist nature, they require to be com- 

 bined with cut hay, to which a little barley or oat- 

 meal may occasionally be added. 



* Quayle's General View of the Norman Isles. 



I This is one proof, among many, of the vague 

 manner in which experiments are often related, and 

 consequently of the little reliance to be placed on 

 them, when all the details are not accurately stated. 

 Without at all meaning to depreciate the value of car- 

 rots, the excellence of which, as food for cattle, is now 

 universally admitted, it cannot escape observation, that 

 they must, in this instance, have been accompanied by 

 no small quantity of hay; for only allowing one bushel 

 of carrots per day, to each beast, the quantity would 

 amount to 4-500 bushels, exclusive of the swine; that is, 

 1300 bushels per acre, or eibout three times the amount 

 of a good crop. — Ed. 



X For an analvsis of the (Ufl'crent roots and grasse;?, 

 see Book IX. Chap. VI. 



