FATTENING CATTLE. 



581 



difTiciilty of fiilt«Miiiig aiiimnls in cokl weather, 

 or ill ble;ik, uiisl loitered situations. 



I iij:iy hero state to you some experiments 

 which were made bv that truly j)hiloso[)liical 

 agriculturist, Mr. Morton, at Earl Dmie's 

 fann, at Whitfield, a.s illustrative of the ett'ects 

 of an increase of temperature and diminished 

 exercise upon the feeding of sheep. In the 

 first experiment five sheep were ftnl in the 

 open air, between the Slst of November and 

 the 1st of December ; they consumed 90 lbs. 

 of food per day, the mean temperature of the 

 atmosphere being 41^ of Fahrenheit's ther- 

 mometer ; at the end of this time they 

 weighed 2 lbs. less than they did on the 2 1st 

 of November. In the second expi^rinifut, 

 live sheep were placed under a shed and al- 

 lowed free motion, the mean leniperature be- 

 ing 49^ ; they consumed at first 82 lbs. of 

 Ibod per day, then 70 lbs. ; at the end of the 

 experiment they had gained in weight 23 

 lbs. In the third experiment, five t;heep 

 were placed in the same shed, but were not 

 ;ilIowed to take exercise ; they ate at first 

 t)4 lbs. of food a day, then 53 lbs., and in- 

 creased in weight .30 lbs. 



Dai'kiiess, in combination with rest and 

 wannth, tends mutually to facilitate the fat- 

 tening process, Ijy removing those cau.ses of 

 excitement which might otherwise exist, and 

 which would tend to mi increased consump- 

 tion of carbon or fat-forming principle in the 

 lungs. It is well known to the practical 

 farmer, that restless animals consume a larger 

 quantity of foc>d, an<l fatten much slower, 

 than those of a cpiiet disposition ; and as it is 

 the object of the feeder to produce the largest 

 weight of flesh with the smallest quantity of 

 tbod, all those collateral circumstances should 

 be attended to which will facilitate the attain- 

 ment of the desired object. 



Another important jiointto be properly at- 

 tended to in the management of cattle is the 

 regularity of their feeding ; inasmuch as the 

 gastric juice is secreted by the glands of the 

 stomach at the accustomed time of feeding ; 

 and therefore, if there is no food for it to act 

 u()on, it irriUites the coats of the stomach 

 itself, producing a degree of incpiictude and 

 restlessness which is highly injurious, and 

 tends to check that steady progress of the 

 animal which it is so desirable to maintain. 

 M. Von Thaer, in his work on " The Phi- 

 losophy of Agi-iculture," informs us that, in 

 fattening, care should be taken to maintain a 

 uniform and, particularly in winter, a some- 

 what high temperature Light must be in- 

 tercepted ; for just in proportion as it keeps 

 up the due health of cattle, so does dark- 

 ness accelerate the attainment of the required 

 degree of fatness. The repose and content- 

 ment — the happy freedom from anxiety, 

 arising from the certainty of receiving tlu-ir 

 foinl in proper time and measure — contributes 

 so mucli to the fattening of cattle that a much 

 more plentiful supply, given irregularly, can- 

 not make up for the want of order. The 

 hour for feeding, aud the quHutity of food. 



(1151) 



maybe variously regulated, but a system when 

 once adopted should be strictly adliered to. 



The saline luid earthy matter contained ia 

 the food is by no means an unimportant fea- 

 ture. The animal, it must be borne in mind, 

 requires that the food or plants upon which 

 it lives shonld sujiply [ihosphate of lime for 

 the due formation of its bones, and saline 

 matter for ihe blood ; and it is a truly beau- 

 tiful provision of Nature, th.it pliints will not 

 grow in soils which are destitute of those con- 

 stituents required in the economv of animals • 

 hence the advantages which are derived from 

 the employment of such manures as bones, 

 guano, Croggon's and other saline manures, 

 or the urine of cattle, X-c, in the growing of 

 our commonly cultivated crops. 



The due proportions of which these differ- 

 ent constituents of the food are required by 

 the animal, vary at different periods of its 

 growth, and also at different stages of its ap- 

 proach to that degree of fatness wliich fits it 

 for the shambles. 



In the young and growing animal, there 

 will be a much larger demand on tlie food 

 than there would be in after-life. The mus- 

 cles re(juire to be enlarged by the addition 

 of more gluten or muscle-flirming principle 

 than would be necessary to compensate for 

 the natural waste which is continually going 

 on in the body, and the food must supply au 

 iucrciused quantity of phosphates for the 

 growth of bone ; the lungs are more active, 

 and a greater inimljer of inspirations are made 

 in a given time, by which more carbon is 

 consumed : hence the necessity of supplying 

 the growing animal with a richer and far more 

 nutritious diet than would be required by' the 

 adult, and of feeding at shorter intervals. 



Nature has prepared in the milk of the ma- 

 ternal qnadrnjicd a species of food suitable to 

 the wants of ilie young animal ; and a glance 

 at its conqiositioii, which is pointed out by 

 chemical analysis, will soon convince us how 

 admirably it is adapted to fulfill the purposes 

 in the animal economy : 



TABLE IV. 



COMPOSITION OF MII.K. 



Butter 27 to 3.5 



Casein or Clieese 4.t to 90 



Miiksusrar 37 to .50 



Phosphate of lime 3 to 10 



Salts 7 to 10 



Water 8gl to 805 



The sugar of milk, with the butter, sup- 

 plies the materials which are consumed in 

 the lungs of the young animal, by which the 

 animal heat is properly kept up. The casein, 

 or cheesy matter, yields the materials for the 

 growing muscles, and the gelatine of the 

 bones ; while the phosphate of lime, dissolved 

 in the water, supplies the earthy matter for 

 the bones. The cjuantity of milk, and the 

 proportions of the ingi'edients which it con- 

 tains, vary with circumstances, such as the 

 breed of the cow, the food with which she ia 

 supplied, the time of her calving, her age, 



