CATTLE. 



CATTLE. 



at home, although it may net him only 6 per 

 ton in fattening his cattle, than carry it even 

 a short distance to market and obtain $8 for 

 it. Such estimates would seem to indicate 

 that the value of articles consumed in fattening 

 stock ought not to be valued so high as the 

 current market prices. 



If the hay consumed on the farm nets the 

 farmer $5 per ton, and the average product is 

 two tons, it will pay a remunerating profit, 

 allowing the land to be valued at $75 and even 

 much higher, per acre. 



Gain of stnll-fcil mtile. Colman gives some 

 interesting estimates showing the actual gain 

 per day in stall-fed cattle, a matter generally 

 left to conjecture. 



mple 1. A pair of cattle owned by S. C. 

 weighed 



Oct. 16, 2305 Ibs. and 21 10 Ibs. .together- - 4415 Ibs. 

 Jan. 17,2135 " 2185 " - - 4> 



The g.iin, therefore, in 3 months and 1 day, was 205 " 



" The same cattle weighed on the following 

 March llth, 



' undone 2345 Ihs., together - - 4935 I ba. 

 The gain, then, in this 1 month and 22 days, " 



was 315 



The whole gain in 4 mos. 23 days, being - 520 " 



The gain during 146 days was at the rate of 

 3-56 Ibs. per day. 



" These cattle had, besides hay, a small al- 

 lowance of meal, and ran in a good pasture 

 through the summer. They were put up to be 

 stall-fed early in the autumn, and were soon 

 brought to receive together one bushel of meal 

 per day, even measure; one-third pease and 

 oats, two-thirds corn, with a liberal allowance 

 of hay. 



"Example 2. A pair of oxen belonging to 

 R. D. weighed 



Nov. 8, 1995 Ibs. and I9S5 Ibs., toeether - - 3080 Ibs. 

 Mar. 12, ensuing, 2-250 lb. and 2255 lb., to- 

 gether ------- 4505 " 



"The whole gain in 124 days, was 525 Ibs. 

 or at the rate of 4-33 Ibs. per i iv. 



" Example 6. One pair of cattle fed by R. D. 

 weighed in the first part of Nov. 3765 Ibs. 

 Dec. 15, 4220 Ibs. Jan. 15, 4410 Ibs. The. 

 gain in one month was 190 Ibs. March 7, 

 weighed 4730 Ibs. The gain from the com- 

 mencement was 965 Ibs.; from Dec. 15 to 

 March 7, was 510 Ihs. 



"The average gain of the above, from Dec. 

 15 to March 7, 81 days, being 510 Ibs. is 6-29 

 Ibs. per day. The gain from Dec. 15 to Jan. 

 15, 30 days, being 190 Ibs. is 6-33 Ibs. per day. 

 "These cattle were old, and at the time of 

 being purchased appeared to have been hardly 

 driven and poorly fed." 



Loss of weight in driving. The loss of cattle 

 in driving to market is generally estimated at 

 from 50 to 100 Ibs. dead weight, in a distance 

 of some seventy-five or eighty miles. Cattle 

 fatted upon potatoes lose more than others 

 during the journey, which is ascribed to the 

 difficulty of getting them to eat upon the road. 

 The drover usually receives from the farmer 

 a commission of two dollars a head for driving 

 and selling the cattle, with no allowance for 

 feeding. He is therefore but little interested 



in the fare or treatment they are to receive on 

 the way. 



The respectable and responsible officer em- 

 ployed to take an account of all the cattle and 

 other stock brought to the Brighton market, 

 note the average prices, and report weekly 

 these and other interesting particulars, states 

 that the ordinary allowance for shrinkage, in 

 cattle driven to market, is from thirty to thirty- 



1 five per cent. Some which have come a long 

 distance, or are very fat or hollow from want 

 of food, will not shrink more than twenty-five 

 per cent. ; while others thin of flesh, or full of 

 food, will shrink forty per cent. In sheep, the 

 wethers usually shrink fifty per cent. and some- 

 times more. It depends very much upon the 

 state of the animal at the time of weighing. 

 Oxen fresh from the pasture at night have 

 frequently been weighed and reweighed on the 

 following morning at nine o'clock, and found 

 to have shrunk 80 or 100 Ibs. each. 



Live and dead iceight of cuttle. In England, 

 the difference between the dead and live weight 

 is calculated at eleven-twentieths; this, how- 

 ever, only includes the four quarters ; the fifth 

 quarter, as it is there termed, being the hide, 

 loose tallow, and offal, goes to the butcher as 

 his perquisite. In New England, five quarters 

 are also made, Ihe hide and tallow being 

 weighed, and the amount of it and the meat 

 returned to the owner. That is to say, the 

 cattle brought to market by the farmer or 

 drover, being sold, the purchaser turns them 

 over to a slaughtering establishment to be 

 killed and dressed, for which he pays what 

 amounts in money and perquisites to about two 

 dollars per head. The meat is then sold to the 

 retailing butchers. The heart and liver are 

 valued at 50 cents, excepting in the barrelling 

 season ; the tongue is considered worth 42 cents ; 

 the tripe 50 cents; the head, which has on it a 

 large piece of the neck, being of late years cut 

 off at the second joint from the crown, furnish- 

 ing some good meat for cooking, and when 

 boiled given to swine with great advantage, 

 and also the feet, from which oil and glue are 

 obtained, valued at 40 cts., go among the offal, 

 and of course are lost to the farmer or drover. 

 Some cunning butchers are said to have a way 

 by which, after cutting through the shoulders, 

 in splitting down the chine they turn the edge 

 of the axe outwards, thus leaving a large por- 

 tion of the neck attached to the head, a perqui- 

 site of the slaughterer. With respect to the 

 value of the hide at different seasons, a skilful 

 farmer informed Mr. Colman that the hide of 

 an ox, which, if the animal was killed in De- 

 cember, might weigh 100 Ibs., would not weigh 

 more than 85 Ibs. if kept till June, such is the 

 loss from shedding the hair, and perhaps from 

 the thinning of the hide itself. 



The offal or perquisites of the slaughterer 



; consist of the entrails, feet, head, a strip from 

 the foreskin, and the blood. The tongue, 

 cheeks, and heart of the bullock go to the 

 butcher. The slaughterer sells the feet and 

 head to the tallow-chandler and soap-boiler, 

 who extract the tallow and oil ; the claws go 

 to the comb-maker, the bones and pith of the 



. horns to the bone-mill for manure or for the 



299 



