STORE CATTLE 19 



would probably be slaughtered at the age of 35 months. That 

 is to say, the steer or heifer would have been bought for fat- 

 tening when just two years and a half old. 



To obtain a complete picture, many stores from the grass- 

 lands (going for the same purpose at the same age, but more 

 often having much more varied careers) would need to be 

 selected. The calf would have been dropped by a cow kept for 

 milking in mid-autumn, transferred immediately to some dis- 

 trict where butter was made, and the skim, or separated milk, 

 given to the young animal together with some artificial food to 

 replace the cream some hay, a few roots, etc. A paddock 

 would find him nourishment as soon as spring grass was avail- 

 able, and his liberty would be curtailed through a long winter in 

 a straw-yard, during which time he would receive a very small 

 proportion of corn. Grazing on grass of second quality in spring 

 and summer, and protection while feeding on straw and other 

 plough-land produce in the homestead in autumn and winter, 

 would continue to the end of the steer's store career. 



The following statement attempts to give an account of how 

 such a steer uses up the area of land required to rear him and to 

 show what return may be expected for the enterprise. We will 

 suppose that the calf is born early in September, and goes into 

 the feeding-courts in October, when just over two years old. To 

 make the example simpler we will assume that only home- 

 grown corri is used ; as regards rough fodder we will also assume 

 that the straw grown with the corn is fed. A slight economy 

 might be shown in pounds, shillings and pence by using im- 

 ported feeding stuffs, and some linseed would make better 

 feeding. So the increase in weight shown will be as great as if 

 the best food, in proportional amounts, had been fed. For 

 instance, rather less linseed cake would give the same nourish- 

 ment and growth as the 2 Ib. of oats allowed while the animal 

 is being reared on the pail. In the same way we will take hay, 

 equivalent in weight to oat straw, when a less palatable and 

 nourishing article of diet would suffice. As regards the increase 

 in weight, allowance is made for the many ills to which calves 

 reared on this system are liable. Such animals seldom recover 

 from their bad start in life without much additional and very 



