WEIOnT.] 



CATTLE, AND THEIR VARIETIES. [hairy feebino. 



him to jud<;e 'A' the oarcass-woiglit of tlip 

 animal bo wisUes to make his own. Let' him 

 liavo it Wfighed, anil make a (loiluctiou acoord- 

 iug to the foregoing data ; and if it does nothing, 

 more, it will at least serve as some guide in tlie 

 forming of his judgment. The author of T/ia 

 Boole of the Farm, gives two rules for ascertain- 

 ing the weight of ealtle by aJiiieasurcmciit. Hi- 

 confesses, however, that they aro not foundeil 

 on any certain principle — a circumstance which 

 must be remembered in using them. 



1st. ]Multiply the sc]u:ire of the girth in 

 inches, by tlie length in inches, and divide tlie 

 product by 73^1; and the quotient will be 

 the weight iu imperial stones. 2nd. iSquare 

 the girth iu feet, and multiply it by the length 

 iu feet ; multiply again by the decimal -238, and 

 the sum is the weight in imperial stones. By 

 the length, in all admeasurement, is intended 

 a line from the top of the shoulder to the 

 6etting-ou of the tail ; and the circumference 

 round the body, just behiud tlie shoulders, is 

 the girth. The same author remarks, that for 

 beasts between forty and seventy stones, the 

 rules of admeasurement apply pretty nearly ; 

 but below or above these weights, they cannot 

 at all be depended upon. 



The following approved rule is given in the 

 little work of Mr. Milburn : — " Measure the 

 girth close behind the shoulder, and the length 

 from the fore part of the shoulder-blade, along 

 the back, to the bone at the tail, which is in a 

 vertical line with the buttock, both in feet. 

 Multiply the square of the girth, expressed in 

 feet, by five times the length, and divide the 

 product by 21: the quotient is the weight 

 nearly of the four quarters, in imperial stones, 

 of Mlbs. avoirdupois. For example, if the 

 girth be Gi feet, and the length 5]- feet, we 

 shall have G.V multiplied by Gi-, making 42^; 

 and 5^ multiplied by 5, making 2G]-; then 

 42} multiplied by 2Gi, making 1,109G; and 

 this, divided by 21, gives 52 84 stones, nearly, 

 or 52 stones lllb. It is to be observed, how- 

 ever, that in very fat cattle, the four quarters 

 will be about one-twentieth more ; while iu 

 tliose in a verj' lean state, they will be about 

 one-twentieth less than the weight obtained 

 by this rule. The four quarters are little more 

 than half the weight of the living animal; the 

 skin weighing about the eighteenth part, and 

 the tallow about the twelfth part of the whole." 



ri:i:uiNG roii tmi-: dairy. 



Ti) tho practical man, the inlluenco wliich 

 food exercises on the production of milk is 

 well known. Not only is tho daily quantity 

 of milk produced by a cow dependent on the 

 nature of the aliment consumed, but, also, tho 

 (juality of the milk is greatly alTt'ctcd by its 

 character. Butter and cheese may bo re- 

 garded as two very important articles of dairy 

 husbandry, and they are both tho products of 

 milk. According to the purpose for which 

 this wholesome beverage is intended to be em- 

 ployed — whether for the manufacture of butter 

 or the making of cheese — tho cow should be 

 dillerently fed. Chemistry has given us a 

 knowledge of tho fact, that butter contains 

 carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, but no nitro- 

 gen ; whilst, with this last element, cheese is 

 abundantly supplied. Food which contains a 

 large quantity of fatty matter, or such sub- 

 stances as are, in the animal system, readily 

 converted into fat, will tend to the increase of 

 the proportion of cream in milk. On tho 

 other hand, the proportion of caseine, or cheese 

 matter in milk, is increased by the use ot highl}'- 

 nitrogenised food. Those, therefore, who desire 

 much cream, or who produce milk for the man- 

 ufacture of butter, direct their attention to 

 the selection of food likely to increase the pro- 

 portion of butter in the milk. In cheese 

 countries, on the contrary, the principal object 

 of the farmer is the production of milk rich in 

 curd. Vetches, clover, peas, and bean-meal, 

 abound in legumen — a nitrogenised organic 

 compound, almost identical in composition 

 and properties with caseine, or the substance 

 which forms tho curd in milk. The dairy 

 farmer, consequently, feeds his cows with ad- 

 vanta'^e with such and similar food as tends to 



O 



add to the richness of the milk in curd or 

 cheese. The quaiit\', as well as the quantity, 

 of the butter in tho milk, depends on the kind 

 of food consumed, and on the general state of 

 health of the cow. House-fed animals, particu- 

 larly if turnips is their principal food, always 

 yield inferior butter to cows living upon tho 

 fresh and aromatic grasses of pasture-land. 

 Succulent aliment, in which there is an abun- 

 dance of water, such as the green grass of 

 irrigated meadows, green clover, brewers' 

 refuse, distillery refuse, «fcc., increase the quan- 



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