CATTLEGENERAL MANAGEMENT. 791 



shelled corn, bran, oatrmeal, and hay in addition as soon as it 

 will eat; or if allowed to take the milk from the cow, it is turned 

 with her twice a day, with the same food in addition as in the 

 case of feeding by hand. In the spring, when turned out to 

 grass, the same process of giving dry feed is kept up at least 

 once each day, until the grass loses its washy nature. Calves 

 dropped in the spring are treated much the same. As soon as 

 pastures begin to run short in the autumn, the feeding is com- 

 menced again, and when bad weather comes on, the calves are 

 brought to the stable and not permitted to roam over the fields 

 in quest of food until grass comes the next season. 



" The best food for yearlings is an equal mixture of shelled 

 corn, or corn-meal, bran, and oats ; the corn to make fat and 

 keep up animal heat, bran and oats to make bone an$ muscle. 

 The amount that each animal should have varies so much at 

 different times, that it is hard to give an estimate ; when it is 

 steady, cold, and dry, they will eat much more than when the 

 winter is warm and wet. Some writers claim, that three pounds 

 of solid dry food for each hundred pounds the animal weighs is 

 amply sufficient, but it won't always hold good. The second 

 spring, when the cattle are turned to grass, they are fed the same 

 as at first, until they become thoroughly accustomed to it and no 

 danger of scouring. Many good animals are badly injured by too 

 sudden a change from dry food to grass in the spring of the year. 

 A little dry food each day, if it is nothing but hay or good straw 

 with salt in small quantities, two or three times each week will 

 prevent scouring and keep the animal in good condition. 



" The second winter, if cattle are intended for the shambles 

 the following spring or summer, we begin the feeding process in 

 time to keep the animals from losing any flesh; but in the 

 change from green to dry food it is impossible to keep them from 

 shrinking in weight for a period of three or four weeks. The 

 cattle are stabled at the beginning of bad weather, each animal 

 is tied by itself and fed lightly the first few days, as the sudden 

 change from out-door exercise to being tied in the stable causes 

 a little excitement and a high pulse, and we always find the 

 result more satisfactory to feed lightly until the animal becomes 



