26 GRASS BEEF 



least 3 years old. The ''full-mouthed," that is, animals of 

 3! years or more, are valued most of all. Having given 10 

 years of close observation to this subject, I feel some confidence 

 in expressing judgment upon it. 



Eleven years ago it became my business to study the practice 

 of the graziers in one of the best Midland counties, a famous 

 hunting shire specially endeared to the fox-hunter by its large, 

 level fields of richly-carpeted turf, a country with fine open 

 gallops and wonderful hedges to make jumping difficult. Only 

 soil naturally rich or fertile will grow hedges thickly enough to 

 test the prowess of the really good man, horse, and hound. I was 

 then told, as often before and since, that young oxen could not 

 be kept on this good land, that any beasts with less than four 

 broad teeth "went off" immediately they were turned on to it, 

 that younger animals even died, and so on. Now I might have 

 accepted this without evidence, as I have often accepted the 

 statements of other "practical" men, had it not been for one 

 strange anomaly with which I was familiar on this very type of 

 land -namely the practice of farmers who bred high-class 

 pedigree beef-cattle. The breeders of these aristocratic cattle 

 turned out their yearling heifers, and even young bulls, on to 

 the very best pasture without any ill effect. In fact, while I have 

 never heard a pedigree-breeder complain of his land being too 

 good or his grass too strong for his grazing animals, I have often 

 heard complaints of the reverse. So, after careful observation 

 and experiment, I have formed the following opinion : 



It is certainly safer to turn older cattle on to the best pasture, 

 for this may be done without elaborate precautions as to their 

 over-eating, or their being affected by the extremes of weather 

 in the early part of the year. With yearlings (and still more so 

 with " buds ") great care is necessary to prevent their " blowing "* 

 themselves with the young grass, scouring themselves by eating 

 too much, and so on. In other words, the older animals are 

 easier to manage and cause comparatively little anxiety; the 



1 This state, also commonly called " hoven," is known to the veterinarian 

 as tympanitis. It consists of the distension of the huge stomach, found in 

 the ox, with the gases generated by the fermenting young grass; in young 

 animals this disease frequently causes death if not attended to quite early 

 in the attack. 



