No. 10. 



Best Mode of Feeding Cattle. 



319 



and they were sound scientific principles. 

 He commenced by boiling the linseed in 

 water until it formed a kind of jelly; then 

 he stirred in a quantity of cut straw and 

 chaff, and crushed corn. The mixture was 

 then poured into moulds, and afterwards 

 served to the cattle warm, which they liked 

 remarkably well. With this tbod the cattle 

 throve, and acquired beef in an extraordi- 

 nary manner. By this system of feeding, 

 Mr. Warnes said he could compete with any 

 man, whether foreigner or not, as he could 

 eend cattle to Smithfield for A^d. per lb., and 

 pay him an ample return; and in illustration 

 of this, he gives the results of two experi- 

 ments, which he would read to the meeting, 

 and which were as follows : 



Since he followed out box-feeding, he 

 knew not a single instance where he had 

 not realized £8 for every head of cattle he 

 had kept for six months. At the farm where 

 he now resided, he had reared for market 

 the following cattle, after only six months' 

 box-feeding : 



7 Durham steers, cost £8 10*. each, 



sold for £19 10s. each, £77 



6 Scotch steers cost £S 10s. each, 



sold for £22 10s. each, 84 



1 Cow cost £5 5s. sold for £15, 9 15 



4 Scotch steers cost £10 each, sold 



for £20 each, 40 6 



£210 15 



The above cattle were bought in and dis- 

 posed of within six months. They consumed, 

 with the following now in herd, nineteen 

 acres of turnips, about fourteen quarters of 

 linseed, and a few bushels of barley-meal, 

 with several acres of pea-straw: 



3 Durham heifers, estimated value 



above the cost price, £22 10 



2 Irish steers, 13 

 5 Small steers and heifers, 30 



3 Calves, and butter from two 



cows, 11 



£76 10 

 Deduct for 14 quarters of lin- 

 seed, mostly grown upon the 

 farm, £35, also for barley, £4, 39 



£37 10 



In reference to Mr. Warnes's experiinents, 

 too, it is to be observed that the value of the 

 manure was very much increased in com- 

 parison with that derived from the ordinary 

 method of feeding. But, besides this, there 

 was another method of feeding of which he 

 would speak from personal observation, and 

 which he had witnessed in the neighbour- 



hood of Northallerton. He went to that 

 place because he had heard that Mr. Marsh- 

 all was keeping double the amount of stock, 

 with the same quantity of turnips, that he 

 had been in the habit of doing only two 

 years ago; the other food used being ground 

 oats, barley, rye, and old beans, and chopped 

 hay, instead of straw at times ; but the cat- 

 tle did best with the straw. Hearing, as he 

 had stated, that Mr. Marshall kept double 

 the stock upon the same amount of turnips, 

 by his system of feeding, he — Professor 

 Johnston — was very anxious to see the mode 

 of carrying his system into operation, and 

 went down to Yorkshire for that purpose. 

 There he saw about 200 head of cattle feed- 

 ing, a portion of which was sold oft' every 

 week, and their places supplied by others. 

 What struck him as very remarkable, was 

 the state of absolute rest in which he found 

 the cattle. There was not a single beast 

 upon its legs; no motion was observed, 

 which, they were aware, was a circumstance 

 favourable for fattening. In connection with 

 this subject he got the following information, 

 and in order that they might fully under- 

 stand it, he would present it in a tabular 

 form. It was as follows : 



Linseed, 2 lbs., boiled for three hours in 

 four gallons of water; cut straw, 10 lbs.; 

 growing corn, 5 lbs.; mixed with jelly. To 

 be given in two messes, alternately with 

 two feeds of Swedes. Now, the mode in 

 which the linseed was boiled, was of consi- 

 derable consequence. In the first place it 

 was boiled for three hours. The jelly was 

 then poured upon crushed grain and cut 

 straw, much in the same manner in which a 

 man made mortar, being mixed together 

 with a shovel and allowed to stand for an 

 hour. It was then stirred again, and after 

 a lapse of two hours it was given to the cat- 

 tle in a hot state, and the result was, that if 

 the animals are fed regularly on this kind of 

 food and turnips alternately, they remain in 

 a state of extraordinary quiet. They be- 

 come exceedingly fond of it, and commence 

 bellowing whenever they hear their neigh- 

 bours beuig served before themselves.. The 

 practice was to give them a meal of the lin- 

 seed mixture at six in the morning, turnips 

 at ten, another mess of linseed in the after- 

 noon, and turnips again in the evening. 

 When he saw them first in the morning, it 

 was after they had got their mess, and he 

 was much astonished to see them, on visit- 

 ing them on the second occasion, when they 

 were all on the qui vive for their meal. Two 

 things were to be observed in regard to this 

 system of feeding — first, that it consisted, in 

 addition to turnips, of a mixture of grain, 

 straw and linseed in certain quantities, given 



