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Agricultnre is the most Healthy- and Honorable, as it is the most Natural and Useful pursuit of Man. 



VOL. X. 



ROCHESTER, N. Y.— JULY, 1849 



NO. 7. 



Jarm Cjusbanurt). 



REARING, KEEPING AND FATTENING DOMESTIC 

 ANIMALS. 



The science of breeding, keeping and fattening do- 

 mestic animals is too much neglected in the United 

 States. Few practical farmers have the courage to 

 take hold of the somewhat forbidding subjects of 

 comparative anatomy, physiology and organic chem- 

 istry, with a resolute purpose to understand the living 

 organism by which grass, hay, grain and roots are 

 transformed into beef, mutton, pork, butter, cheese 

 and wool. The natural machinery for effecting these 

 important changes of vegetable into animal substan- 

 ces, deserves to be studied with great care, in order 

 to make the most of the food consumed by every ani- 

 mal kept on the farm. There is no class that has 

 reached perfection in yielding the largest product in 

 flesh, milk or wool, for the aliment consumed in the 

 course of its life time. All are fed unequally — some- 

 times too much and sometimes too little ; and, again, 

 they suffer from food more defective in qauliiy than 

 deficient in quantity. One often sees store pigs eat 

 the dung of over-fed fatting hogs ; and in this city, 

 half-starved cows voraciously devour the solid excre- 

 tions of corn-fed carriage horses. In rearing swine 

 they are commonly under-led about three-fourths of 

 their lives, and over-fed the other fourth ; so that in 

 the aggregate not more than one-half as much meat 

 is elaborated from the food taken into the stomach of 

 pigs as might have been formed. 



All animals demand a certain quantity of nutritive 

 matter to preserve them in a normal condition, or to 

 prevent their losing weight and becoming poor and 

 poorei. In all cases where the object is to form meat, 

 it is I ad economy to keep animals for weeks and 

 months, as thousands of farmers do, without gaining 

 a pound of flesh, although they necessarily consume 

 a large amount of food. This forms the manure ; 

 i. e. 100 lbs. of solid mutter taken into the sto 

 yield 40 in dry dung yard and urine, and no more. If 

 we feed much above the point of normal nutrition, a por- 

 tion of the aliment fails to enter the lacteal \ 

 which surround the alimentary canal, and thr 

 which digested matter passes into the blood \ 

 to nourish the system. This e.'ce^s of loo I, whether 

 partially digested or not, passes on through the !'0\v- 

 els and appears as feces or dung. There is always 

 an immense loss in seeking to make animals excess- 

 ively fat. Of course, wfnn two or three prices are 



realized for such beef, mutton or pork, the loss in the 

 waste of food, is paid by tho consumer. Our object 

 is to develope the true economy of making meat, re- 

 gardless of the fact whether it is sold or consumed 

 by the producer. This consists in providing a relia- 

 ble supply of suitable food, so that the animal from 

 its birth to the day of its being slaughtered, should 

 steadily gain in weight. So long as it is adding to 

 the length and size of its bones and muscles — grow- 

 ing — its system will be little inclined to take on fat, 

 if not over-fed. Excessive stuffing and no exercise, 

 bring the development of bone and muscle to a pre- 

 mature ripeness. They cease to expand, and you 

 have a fat lap-dog or a pocket china pig. Habitual 

 starving will also bring the carcass to maturity be- 

 fore it attains to its proper size. Skilful feeding im- 

 plies that one never gives too mnch nor too little ; 

 and has the food well adapted to the constitution and 

 habits of the animal, whether a horse, sheep, cow or 

 swine. 



This system of feeding is not so easy as some may 

 imagine ; for the quantity of grass that will grow on 

 a given number of acres in pasture and meadow in a 

 dry or wet season is very unequal. Hence, in the 

 one case the farmer will have more feed than stock ; 

 and in the other more stock than feed. If one must 

 err in the matter, it is usually better to have an ex- 

 cess, rather than a deficiency of forage. Grass left 

 to rot on the ground in a pasture or meadow is far 

 from being lost. It improves the soil. 



After having taken all due pains to make two 

 blades of grass and corn grow where only one of 

 either grew before, the stock grower should study 

 closely the business of breeding domestic animals. — 

 The leading idea in this art and science is, to select 

 the best males and females from which to propagate 

 and improve the race. This rule applies alike to the 

 equine, bovine, ovine and swine families. In each 

 genus there are several species, in each species there 

 merous breeds, and in the several breeds not a 

 few varieties. It is no part of our duty to attempt to 

 v. rit e up one species or breed of animals, whether of 

 cattle, horses, hogs or sheep, and to write down 

 another. Practical farmers know best what kind of 

 stock will suit their land and markets. Our advice, 

 if offered, would be quite as likely to miss as to hit 

 the wants of the reader. There is more difference 

 in the value of breeds than many are willing to ad- 

 mit, and less than some breeders of improved races 

 claim. A yearling of the short horn stock, less than 

 13 months old, wa- weighed in this city a few days 



