THE IMPROVED ART OF FARRIERY. 347 



bullock or heifer in flesh and condition in the spring, 

 when they come first from hay to grass, and in order 

 to receive them with a vigorous aftermath when other 

 grass, as the clovers and the second crops of after- 

 maths, go off: and, thirdly, to provide hovels, sheds, 

 or other buildings, enclosed with not too confined or 

 close walls, to shelter the cattle from winds and heavy 

 rains. By adopting and pursuing these methods in 

 pasturing neat cattle on the feeding-grounds, the 

 grazier, from having plenty of hay, will be enabled to 

 purchase barren beasts before the spring grass comes 

 in, when they are cheap, and may be bought to much 

 advantage, allowing for the value of the hay they may 

 eat ; and if by winter haying some meadow ground, 

 after it has been kept high in heart by feeding, and 

 other management, he can early in the spring by such 

 means take off such grazing beasts from hay to grass 

 before the clovers can be ready, it will be advantageous 

 in many places, as they are often as late as the second 

 week in May ; and then by keeping such meadows for 

 an aftermath, which, towards the end of summer, are 

 in very good heart, he may support his bullocks and 

 carry them on when the strength of other grass fails. 

 All fattening cattle, whether barren cows or oxen, re- 

 quire a proportional progression from coarser to finer 

 and better food, or keep, as they grow mc^^'e and more 

 into good flesh and condition ; otherwise, when half 

 fat, they will frequently go back, when the grazier can- 

 not, without great difficulty, raise them again, which 

 of course is a great loss of profit. Every kind of feed- 

 ing-pasture is fitted to raise animals to a particular size 

 and condition of flesh ; but the larger the breed, the 

 richer and sounder should be the soil, and the fuller 

 and more abundant the produce. 



