FEEDING OF ANIMALS. 25 



purpose of the dairy, I always describe the bull as having the 

 same points, for the same purpose only added to, multiplied 

 and increased so as to make the animal strong and masculine. 



There you have your male and female, and once having put 

 these two animals together, if either one is up to the point you 

 desire, do not abandon that line of breeding, and go out of it 

 into other herds for the purposes of increase. This business of 

 mixing animals — of turning one herd in with another — is all 

 idle and nonsense ; it is nothing but " confusion worse con- 

 founded." The best herds of Shorthorns ever produced have 

 been produced by a careful adherence to this rule, after bring- 

 ing it to the type desired. The most remarkable breed of sheep 

 have been produced in the same manner, and the best breeds of 

 horses have been produced in the same manner. All the preju- 

 dices against in-and-in breeding have long since vanished 

 before a skilful, careful and accurate mode of breeding. Feed 

 well and breed closely, and you can make the type you want. 



Now, after having produced these animals — after having 

 brought them into your herd and established them — the next 

 question is. How are you going to take care of them ? What 

 are you going to do with them ? How are you going to feed 

 them ? The business of feeding animals is not an easy thing. 

 It is not every man who can take care of a cow after he has got 

 one. It is not every man who knows how to feed an animal, 

 no matter how thrifty he may be. One feeder will take ton 

 oxen, and make money on them ; another feeder will take ton 

 more, of the same kind, give them the same food, and lose 

 money on them. Why is it ? One reason is rathe-r a senti- 

 mental one, I grant you : it is that one puts himself in 

 sympathy with his herd, and the other does not. It sounds 

 sentimental, but it is true. Cattle are just like men ; they will 

 take readily, gratefully, from one man's hands, and indifferently 

 from another. The first thing, then, in beginning to feed 

 animals, is to put yourself in communication with them, some- 

 how or other, the best way you can, and then begin to feed 

 them. If you feed them right, there is no trouble. For the 

 purposes of the dairy, for carrying cows through the winter, I 

 have no question that in this country, the best kinds of food, in 

 the hands of a proper and judicious feeder, are the best English 

 hay, some form of root-crops, and any kind of grain that is 



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