CATTLE-FEEDiNa.] CATTLE, AND TIIEJK VAIMETIE.S. [cattlk-feedino. 



.symmetry of proportion being no criterion ofi being thin; tail small ; utldor large and round, 

 uiilliing qualities. The i^rtw-ii/tvj/ of a fiittened , with lour teats, well-formed, tapering to tho 



ox in section is a parallelogram, and a cvlinder 

 is tliat of his superficies ; thus exhibitiug tho 

 essence of roundness : whereas, tlie very con- 

 verse is the perfection 0/ tho milker — that is, 

 fla/nrss. The following are tho best-settled 

 :nark3 or characteristics of a milking cow : — 

 l[ead small and fine; eyo bright and full, but 

 with a quiet and placid expression ; neck deep 

 and thin, which gives it an appearance of hol- 

 lowuess ; shoulder and breast narrow, but pro- 

 jecting; ribs flat; rump broad, and tapering 

 down to the knee joint, owing to the thighs 



end, and at a moderate distance from each 

 other; skin thin, and witli plenty above; foro 

 teats round and full, and with a largo subcu- 

 taneous or milk-vein, as it is commonlv, but 

 erroneously called. There must, above all, bo 

 kindliness of touch, indicative at once of good 

 breeding and of quiet disposition. These, 

 united to a quiet and gentle temperament, aro 

 indications of milk producing animals, which, 

 when accompanied with health, aro almost 

 infallible criterioua in the cow suitable for tho 

 dairyman. 



CHAPTER IV. 



FEEDING OF CATTLE. 



Ix the pastoral districts of the United 

 Kingdom, it might be imagined, that where 

 fat is no longer regarded as a luxury at the 

 tables of the rich, every mode which promotes 

 its accumulation on cattle would be so gene- 

 rally known, that the most unsophisticated 

 vould be initiated into its mysteries. This, 

 i.owever, notwithstanding all that has been 

 ■one, is not the case. " Everybody knows that 

 ich alluvial pasturage, that linseed-cake and 

 iSwede turnips, that combinations of hay and 

 bean-meal and ground corn, with a dozen 

 kinds of roots, will feed cattle sooner or later. 

 But the question now is simply one of economy 

 — How can tlie greatest numher of pounds of 

 leef he produced at ilie least iwssihle cost .«'" 

 This is the point to be ascertained ; and to do 

 this, the grazier must make his selection of 

 tuch beasts as will take on fat the most 

 rapidly. By a physiological law, there are 

 some which will sooner attain maturity than 

 others, and so be earlier fit for feeding. As it 

 requires no great amount of skill in a good 

 grazier to select an animal that is likely 

 to thrive under his management, he will 

 make a choice of a drove, of five, or ten, or 

 twenty animals; and nineteen of the last 



number will be the best grazers for his par- 

 ticular farm. In doing this, his eye, as well 

 as the signs described in the chapter on the 

 breeds of cattle, guide him ; but, more than 

 all, he is directed by the touch. After select- 

 ing the animals, the mode of feeding them is, 

 to turn them out into a grass field, if possible, 

 skirted by a river, where the alluvium of ages 

 has been washed into the soil so deep, that 

 the roots of the herbage cannot find its bot- 

 tom, and so firmly comminuted as to admit of 

 the smallest filaments of the radicles of the 

 plants easily to peneti*ate it. It should like- 

 wise be so porous as to allow the air to enter, 

 and the water to filter gently through it. All 

 its elements should be kept in a state of 

 solution, so delicate, that they may be always 

 ready to nourish and strengthen the plants 

 which consume them. It should, also, have 

 all the elements of vegetation plentifully mixed 

 up with it. On such a soil, a lean bullock will, 

 in a few months, become fat, because he is 

 nourished upon all the elements congenial to 

 his nature. A little attention, to see that he 

 is iccll, is all that is required from the time of 

 his being placed in the pasture to his being 

 taken to the butcher. There is neitlier labour 



C63 



