CATTLE GENERAL MANAGEMENT. 793 



before, the holidays; the cattle are then generally well shrunk 

 out, pastures are becoming short, prices are usually low from an 

 over-crowded market with stock to be got off before the 

 weather gets too bad and the stock runs down thin in flesh. A 

 few day's feeding soon starts them to gaining, and they improve 

 right along. If I intend to graze awhile then I prefer waiting 

 until February before making purchases. They usually advance 

 a little by that time, but the shrinkage in weight from a scant 

 supply of food, which is practiced by so many farmers, usually 

 over-balances the advance in price. Cattle can then be fed 

 three months, turned to pasture six weeks with three or four 

 quarts of corn-meal to each animal a day, and they are in prime 

 condition to be slaughtered. 



" No statement has been made thus far in this article as to 

 the amount of corn or its equivalent required for fattening an 

 animal. I have always fed from fifteen to eighteen pounds 

 pure meal each day, or from twenty to twenty-five pounds of 

 corn and cob-meal, or corn on the cob, which for a period of 

 one hundred days would make about thirty bushels of corn to 

 each animal. The above is an average for cattle weighing from 

 eleven to thirteen hundred pounds ; have never weighed the 

 hay, but as stated before, fed what would be cleanly taken up. 

 Results in gain for a period of about one hundred days in stall 

 feeding have run from two and one-fourth to three pounds per 

 day. A steady, cold winter, with good cattle, the average is 

 usually about two and three-fourth pounds. 



" Finally, get a breed that will fat. Keep them growing 

 continually. It is wretched policy to let an animal lose flesh, 

 for every pound costs money, and it will cost money to replace 

 it. One who pays twice for a thing is reckoned unfortunate, 

 but farmers often pay several times for the same pound of flesh. 

 If the above method could be thoroughly inaugurated, it would 

 lead to good results in the production of beef." 



While I like stanchions, and would have them in every sta- 

 ble in which I was intending to tie cattle, I would never leave 

 cattle to lie all night in this position, for it is unnatural and 

 can not be comfortable. With the stanchions' attached to each 



