130 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



market in the spring, when 6o great a porlion of 

 the wealiiiy people of the country are in town, and 

 can aHord to pay (he highest price for ihe best beef, 

 which at that season of ihe year is Norlolk led 

 Scotch, which will travel ih<». long dislance to Lon- 

 don, wiih less injury to tlieir carcasses than any 

 other ivinds of beasts. Stall feedin<r beasts should 

 have plenty of straw under them, the straw satu- 

 rated with their urine and droppings, thrown out, 

 and their beds shook up after each time of li?pd- 

 jng ; they will then soon lie down, and this tends 

 to their making great progress in coming fat. 



if beasts have much hair on their necks and 

 chins, it should be cut ofl' on their being tied up, 

 as it is apt to become so matted together as to 

 make them (eel itchy and unconilbrtable. Curry- 

 combing and brushing does them good. 



An ox house ought to have a manger with 

 two divisions lor each beast, and a water trough 

 lor every two ; and over the manger a rack for 

 hay. There should be windows convenient for 

 throwing out Ihe dung and letting in plenty of air 

 on the beasts first going in ; and afterwards so to 

 close, that be the weather warm or cold, the house 

 may be always kept in one equal and tolerably 

 warm temperature. 



Beasts should be pushed on by degrees to fatten, 

 not so highly led at first as to cloy their appetite. 

 The system of feeding pursued by the writer lor 

 many years has been this, — for the first ten days 

 or fortnight of lying up ; three feeds daily, of half 

 a bushel each of cut turnips, and as mucli hay, 

 night morning and the middle of the day, as they 

 will eat. The next (brinight the same feeds of tur- 

 rips, with three feeds of cut hay, with a little less 

 than a gallon of bean or barley meal in the whole; 

 with a small quantity of fresh made linseed oil, just 

 to flavor it; hay put into the rackalierthe first 

 feed of turnips, and as much at night as they are 

 hkely to consume belbre morning. 



When on full feeding it is thus : — first feed in 

 the morning, half a bushel of cut turnips, directly 

 afterwards half a bushel of cut hay, with about 

 a pint and a half of meal in it. These leeds 

 repeated at noon and in the aliernoon, and sup- 

 ped up at night, with hay in the rack, and three 

 oil cakes, of three pounds each, in the manger. 

 If oil-cake is high priced and linseed not, ii may be 

 substituted for it, by being mixed with the cut hay 

 and meal. Boiling it is best, because that besi 

 dissolves it, and also prevents the numerous seeds 

 of weeds in it from vegetating; but it will do pretty 

 well if steejied in boiling water; and so it will 

 in cold if broken in a hand-mill, and usiuii seven 

 tubs, so that when given to the beasts it will hav.e 

 been steeped seven days, and thus become a com- 

 plete jelly. When boiled or steeped in hot water, 

 it becomes sour in a i\i\v daj's, in which stale it 

 cannot be so good for beasts, although they might 

 not reject it. 



The different weekly cost of the food consumed by 

 each beast will be as Ibllows, including the expen- 

 ees of getting up, carting and cutting the turnips 

 and hay, and also the expense of attending the 

 beasts, taking into consideration the extra value of 

 the manure. 



Feed No. 1. .s. d. 



lOi bushels of Swede turnips - 2 9 

 If cwt- ei hay - --53 



8 



Feed No. 2. s. d. 



Turnips - - - - 2 9 



Hay, 1^ cwt., cut and uncut - 3 9 

 Meal, 6 gallons, mixed with the 



cut hay 3 



Linseed oil, a pint - - 6 



10 

 Feed No. 3. 



Turnips - - - - 2 9 



Hay cut anil uncut - - 3 3 

 Oil cake, 63 lbs., costing at home 



£llaton 6 



Meal, 4 gallons - - . 2 



14 



Finding at Christmas 1838 that I could not tjet 

 English oil cake to cost me at home less that) 

 lour pence the three pound cake, about £12 10s. 

 per ton, I determined to leed the five-and-thirly 

 beasts then in my stalls in the following way ; and 

 I never had beasts that cost so low a price, be- 

 come better meat ; at the same tinie acknowledg- 

 ing that the process of preparing the lood was 

 very ti-oublesome, and therelbre should not recom- 

 mend this mode of feeding, without the master 

 looked to it himselfj or had men he could depend 

 on. 

 Feed No. 4. s. d. 



Three feeds daily of half a bushel 

 of cut hay, which is five pounds, and 

 four pounds of uncut at night, 1 cwt. a 

 week ------30 



Boiled linseed, 2 lbs. daily, seven 

 shillings per bushel - - - 2 



Meal, barley, and bean mixed, 3| 

 gallons 19 



Potatoes boiled, 1^ gallons daily 1 6 



Molasses, which is of a feeding 

 nature, but given ^ lb. daily, to make 

 the inisiure of cut hay, linseed, meal, 

 and potatoes palatable - - 9 



Turnips, ten bushels - - 2 5 



11 6 



With a proper steaming apparatus, potaloea 

 arc a cheap and good food for stall-leeding. 



Beasts may be fattened with little trouble and 

 expense, with good Itjeding hay and raw potatoes; 

 but not more than three pecks daily f-iiould be given, 

 bciniir of so heating a nature; if more is given, 

 the beasts are likely to have all their hair come off, 

 and to be (ireasy heeled. 



Linseed oil cake is merely the husks of the 

 seed after the oil is pressed out. Could my mix- 

 ture of food in No. 4 feed be so pressed together 

 as to Ibrin a cake, there cannot be a doubt but it 

 would b^as feedinii. At the lime the oil cake would 

 have cost me eighteen pence per stone, this cost me, 

 or I should say was of the value of one shilling. 



Linseed without being mixed with other food 

 would be of too relaxing a nature. 



I tried sago, which, in the summer of 1838, Avaa 

 less than three half pence a pound, but it did not an- 

 swer for stall feeding. It is well known to be 

 good for weaned calves. 



The comparative cost per stone of 14 lbs. for dif- 

 ferent kinds of food for stall feeding, is as follows: — 



Linseed oil cake costing the consumer at home 

 £10 per ton, Is. 3d.; linseed at 56e. per qr.. Is, 

 11^ lb.; meal and barley, 309. per qr., Is.; bean 



