FARMERS' REGISTER— STALL-FEEDING NEAT CATTLE. 



397 



are liable to be checked in their progress between 

 turnips and grass. The cattle usually fatted in 

 Norfolk are Scots; instances however have occur- 

 red, though rarely, in the county of Essex, in 

 which Northumberland beasts, of the largest size, 

 have been fattened on turnips alone, without the 

 aid of any other Ibod. 



The second method oi' giving these roots to cattle 

 is by means of close bins, or small cribs, with 

 boards or bars nearly close at the bottom, while 

 the beasts are kept in a loose stra\v 3'ard. These 

 bins are dispersed over the yard, and the turnips 

 are put into them whole: the tap-root, and also the 

 tops, unless they are fresh and palatable, being 

 j)reviously cut off, so that the fatting animals re- 

 ceive only the bulb; the tops, if eatable, being 

 consumed by store cattle. 



While the bullocks arc in the yard, they have 

 the straw sometimes giv^en them in cribs, and at 

 others it is scattered in small heaps abouttheyard, 

 twice or thrice in the day; the quantity thus eaten 

 is very trifling, and w\\\\ the last-mentionetl ma- 

 nagement, the yard becomes evenly littered mth- 

 out further trouble. 



The mode of fattening here detailed is attended 

 with somewhat more labor than the preceding 

 method of throwing turnips abroad, which, in Mr. 

 Marshair* opinion, is the preferable management, 

 il" the soil be sufficiemly dry to support stock, and 

 light enough to stand in need of being rendered 

 firm by treading. On the contrary, where the 

 land is deep, and the season is wet or severe, the 

 straw-yard is the more comfjrtable place, provided 

 it be kept dry and well littered, and be furnished 

 with open sheds, in which the stock can shelter 

 themselves; for, though the tcathe of flitting cattle 

 abroad is greatly beneficial to light soils, yet if bul- 

 locks, while fed in the yard with turnips, are well 

 littered, they -will make a large quantity of excel- 

 lent manure, that will amply compensate for its 

 loss. 



The third method consists in keeping the cattle 

 tied up in hovels, or beneath open sheds, with 

 mangers or troughs for receiving the turnips, 

 which, in this case, are frequently sliced, or more 

 generally (though perhaps less eligibly) cut into 

 quarters by means of a small chopper, upon a nar- 

 row board or stool, beneath which is a basket for 

 catching the pieces. In this operation the turnip 

 is held by the top, which, when wholly disengaged 

 from the root (except the coarse part immediately 

 about the crown) is thrown aside for the store cat- 

 tle. The tap root and bottom rind are separated 

 with the first stroke, and suffered to fiill on one 

 side of the basket, so that the fattening animals 

 have only the prime part of the plant, with which 

 they get a Utile hay, or barley straw. In this 

 manner they generally make the quickest progress 

 in fatting, especially in cold weather; but, from its 

 increased trouble, it is confined chiefly to little far- 

 mers, who have opportunity to tend their own 

 sheds. 



From the preceding facts and statements, Mr. 

 Marshall conceives an eligible plan of manage- 

 ment may be adopted, where circumstances will 

 admit of it. In autumn, therefore, while the wea- 

 ther continues moderate, the bullocks may be al- 

 lowed to remain abroad: but whenever it sets in 

 very wet, or becomes intensely severe, they should 

 be taken and kept under she^lter, ehhcr until their 

 fattening be completed, or the warmth of spring 



again invites them abroad. The whole plan is at 

 variance with that of regular stall-feeding, which 

 is founded on the principles of accumulating dung 

 in the heap, and of keeping the cattle in an equal 

 state of Avarmth; which latter point is generally 

 considered essential to their improvement in flesH. 

 It will, however, be observed, that the Norfolk 

 system combines the improvement of the land with 

 that of the beast; an object which is much pro- 

 moted by the treading of the animals on the light 

 soils of which that county is chiefly composed. It 

 must also be admitted ♦hat many experienced gra- 

 ziers are adverse to stall-feeding, as being prejadi • 

 cial to health. 



Many instances could, however, be adduced in 

 which stall-l'eeding has been successfully carried 

 to the opposite extreme of heat and confinement. 

 Among others, two are mentioned by the late Ar- 

 thur Young: the one, in the practice of a very for- 

 tunate grazier, Mr. INIoody, of Retford, who "found 

 warmth of such consequence, that he gradually 

 closed the air-holes of the building, provided with 

 sliders on purpose, till his beasts sweated off the 

 hair, and they did not thrive to his mind until thia 

 happened: the other, in a similar system pursued 

 on the farm of Mr. Ilanburj^, of Coggeshall, who 

 considers it essential to keep the beasts as warm as 

 possible; and that even if it brings off the hair, 

 they thrive the better, and will feel the better at 

 Smithfield. 



Mr. Young, whose opinions on agricultural sub- 

 jects, though sometimes too speculative, are, from 

 his great experience, entitled to the highest re- 

 spect, was decidedly in favor of warmth; and both 

 on that subject, and on the general slowness of 

 farmers to acl^pt improvements, he thus strongly 

 expressed himself: — "men farm without an idea of 

 any necessity of knowing what others have done 

 before them; nay, they encourage themselves in 

 ignorance, by a pride of rejecting book husbandry; 

 and it is very right that thousands of pounda 

 should have been lost by oil-cake feeding shivering 

 beasts in open sheds, by men who think they can 

 learn nothing beyond the practice of the old wo- 

 men their grandmothers; wdiile the Board of Ag- 

 riculture is annually bringing to light, in county re- 

 ports, practices unknown to the very men who 

 cannot see any use in such publications: but igno- 

 rance is its own punishment."* 



To return from this digressive account of the 

 Norfolk turnip-management, the importance of 

 which, we trust, will be a sufficient apology for its 

 length: — Lastly, amongthe various vegetable pro- 

 ductions that have been appropriated to the stall- 

 feeding of cattle, none have occasioned greater dis- 

 cussion than potatoes. They furnish an excellent 

 supply, particularly when cut and steamed;t and 

 from the subsequent facts, they appear adequate to 

 the fattening of neat cattle, in combination with a 

 comparatively small portion of other food. In the 

 eleventh volume of the "Annals of Agriculture," 

 we meet with the following statements relative to 

 these roots, by Mr. Campbell, of Charlton, in Kent, 

 an able and successful grazier, in answer to some 

 queries that had been proposed to him by Mr. 

 Young. He observes, that 100 bushels of pota- 

 toes, and 700 weight of hay are generally sufficient 



* Survey of Essex, 1S13. Vol. II. p. 304. 

 f For a simple steaming apparatus, see Book VII , 

 Chap. XI. 



