220 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



JAN. 11, ISiaJ 



SCOTCH EXPERIMENTS IN FEEDING CAT- 

 TLE. 



There are many useful facts delailed in llie sub- 

 joined experiuients, whicli we extract fruni tlie 

 " Book of tiie Farni," by Henry Steplici;?, Scotland: 



Mr Brodie, Abbey Mains, East Lothian, made an 

 experiment on feeding' caltle, from October ]8:56, 

 to June ]837, on difl'erent kinds of food. There 

 were four lots of cattle, consisting nf live each. 

 The first lot was fed on turnips and straw, which, 

 bein? the usual treatment, formed the standard of 

 comparison. The second lot had half the weight 

 of turnips and 30 lb. of oil-cake a day. A third 

 lot was fed on the last quantity of turnips and 

 bean-meal and bruised oats. And the fourth had 

 distillery grains and ground beans. The value of 

 the caltle when put up to feed, was £11 apiece, 

 and they were of the Aberdeenshire polled breed. 

 This is a summary of the cost of feeding : 

 Lot 1. White turnips at 8s. 4d., Swedes 



at 123. 6d. per ton, cost £53 !) 10 



Average cost of each beast per week, (I 3 

 Lot 2. Turnips as above, oil-cake, £7 15s. 



per ton, cost 48 1G 



Average cost of each beast per week. 5 9 

 Lots. Turnips as above; bean. meal, 5s. ; 



bruised oats, 3s. Gd. per bush, cost 58 8 1 



Average cost of each beast per week, G 8 

 Lot 4. Turnips and bean-meal as above; 

 draff, 4s. 6d. per quarter ; dreg, 2s. 6d. 

 per puncheon — cost 63 3 2 



Average cost of each beast per week, 7 2 



The ultimate results are as follows : 



Lots. 

 1. 

 2. 

 3. 



Live weight. 



St. 



536 

 552 

 517 



545 



Beef. 

 St. lb. 

 283 3 

 295 10 

 280 7 

 280 



Tallow. 

 S(. L. 

 3G ]0 

 41 G 

 37 2 

 36 11 



Hide. 

 St. lb. 

 27 13 

 29 G 

 2fi 13 

 25 7 



" Upon the whole," concludes Mr Brodie, " it is 

 evident, by these experiments, that feeding with 

 turnips as an auxiliary has been the most advanta- 

 geous mode of using turnips, as, by the above 

 statement it is apparent that it the cattle of the first 

 lot had only been allowed half the quantity of tur- 

 nips which they consumed, and had got oil cake in 

 lien of the other half, as was given to the second 

 lot, the expense of their keep would have been 

 lessened £4 133., and from superior quality of beef, 

 their value would have been increased £10, making 

 together £14 13i." 



Three remarks occur to me to make on the pro- 

 gress of this experiment : the first is, if the cattle 

 had been sold on the 7lh April, 1837, when ihey 

 ■were adjudged by competent farmers, they would 

 not have repaid the feeder his expenses, as the 

 prime cost of lot first, with the cost of feeding to 

 that time, amounted to £95 1 8, and they were only 

 valued at .£83; lot second cost £90 19s., and they 

 were valued at £88 10s. ; lot third cost £93 4s., 

 and were valued at £77 ; and lot fourth cost £97 

 4a. 5d. ; and their value was only £81 lOs. And 

 this is almost always the result of feeding cattle, 

 because i-ineness only exhibits itself towards the end 

 of the feeding season, and it is only after that state 

 of condition is indicated, that the quality of the 

 meat improves so rapidly as to enhance its value 

 BO as to leave a profit. As with sheep so with cat- 

 tle ; with good beasts the inside is first filled up 

 before the outside indicates fineness. Another re- 

 mark is, that this result should be a useful liint to 



you lo weigh well every consideration before 

 disposing of your fattening beasts in the mid- 

 dle of the feeding season. The last remark I have 

 to make is, that the cattle of lot first, continuing to 

 receive the same sorts of food they had always 

 been accustomed to, throve more rapidly at first 

 than the beasts in the other lots, but afterwards 

 lost their advantage ; thereby corroborating the 

 usual experience of stock not gaining condition 

 immediately on a change of food, even of a better 

 kind, such as from turnips to grass. 



Mr Moubray, of Cambus, in Clackmannanshire, 

 made experiments in the winter of 1839-40, on 

 feeding cattle with other th^n the ordinary pro- 

 duce of the farm, but as the cattle were not all sold 

 at the same time, I need not relate the details ; and 

 I mention the experiments for the sake of some of 

 the conclusions that may bo deduced from them. 

 It would appear that cattle may be fed on turnips 

 and hay as cheaply as on turnips and straw, for 

 this reason; that when straw is given as fodder, 

 more turnips are consumed, and, therefore, when 

 turnips are scarce, hay may be used with advan- 

 tage. It also appears that cattle may be fed cheap- 

 er on distillery refuse of draff and dreg, than on 

 turnips and straw, but then the food obtained from 

 the distillery requires more time to bring cattle to 

 the same condition. 



Linseed oil has been successfully employed to 

 feed caltle by Mr Curtis, of West Uudham, in Nor- 

 folk. The mode of using the oil is this: First as- 

 certain how much cut siraw the oxen intended to 

 be fed, will consume a week, then sprinkle the oil, 

 layer upon layer, on the cut straw, at the rate of 1 

 gallon per week per ox. The mixture, on being 

 turned over frequently, is kept two days before be- 

 ing used, when a slight fermentation takes place, 

 and then the oil will scarcely be discerned, having 

 been entirely absorbed by the straw, which should 

 of course be the best oat straw. This mixture 

 when compared with oil cake, has stood its ground. 

 The cost of the oil is not great, its average price 

 being about 34s. the cwt. of 12 1-4 gallons, a gal- 

 ion of fine oil weighing 9.3 lb., which makes the 

 feeding of an ox cost only 2s. lOd. per week. 



Mr Curtis has fed cattle for upwards of twenty 

 years upon what he calls green malt, which con- 

 sists of steeping light barley for 48 hours in soft 

 water, when tlie water is let off and the barley is 

 thrown into a round heap, in a conical form, till it 

 gets warm and begins to sprout freely. It is then 

 spread out and turned repeatedly as it grows. The 

 only care required is that the sprout or future 

 binde does not get cut off, as the malt will then 

 lose much of its nutritious quality. He finds this 

 substance, which costs with its labor Is. a stone, 

 preferable to oats at lOd. in their natural state. 



A method of feeding caltle has been adopted by 

 Mr Warnes, jr., Trimingham, Norfolk, which in a 

 manner combines both the substances used by Mr 

 Curtis, and deserves attcnti'on. The substances 

 consist of linseed meal and crushed barley. The 

 barley may be cither used malted, that is, in a state 

 of " green malt," as designated by Mr Curtis, or 

 crushed flat by bruising cylinders. Crushed oats, 

 boiled peas, and bean flour, may all be substituted 

 for the barley and used with the linseed meal. The 

 mode of making this <'ompound is thus recommend- 

 ed by Mr Warnes. " Put 1G8 lbs. of water into an 

 iron cauldron or copper boiler, and aa soon as it 

 boils, not before, stir in 21 lbs. of linseed meal ; 

 continue stirring it for 5 minutes; then let 63 lbs. 

 of the crushed barley be sprinkled by the hand of 



one person upon the boiling mucilage, while anotl 

 er rapidly stirs and .crams it in. After the who 

 has been carefully incorporated, which will u 

 occupy more than five minutes, cover it close 

 down and throw the furnace door open. Shou 

 there be much fire, put it out. The mass will coi 

 tiniie to simmer, from the heat of the cauldron, t 

 thu barley has entirely absorbed the mucilag 

 The work is then complete, and the food may 1 

 used on the following day. When removed 

 tubs, it must be rammed down, to exclude the a 

 and to prevent its turning rancid. The consiste 

 cy ought to be like that of clay when formed f 

 bricks." 



In regard to the nutritive properties of this coi 

 pound, Mr Warnes testifies thus: " The last of n 

 experimental bullocks for 1841, was disposed of 

 Christmas at 8s. Gd. per stone. He weighed t 

 stones 5 lb., (of 14 lbs. to the stone,) and cost i 

 17s. Gd. thirteen months previously ; so that i 

 paid £17 10s. for little more than one year's kee 

 ing. His common food was turnips or grass ; 14 1 

 a day of barley or jieas compound were given hi 

 for 48 weeks, and an unlimited quantity the last 

 weeks; when, considering the shortness of th 

 time, his progress was perfectly astonishing, n 

 only to myself, a constant observer, but to niai 

 graziers and butchers who had occasional opport 

 nities of examining him. Altogether the weig 

 of compound consumed did not exceed 2 to.is 4 cw 

 at a cost of only £3 16s. per ton." 



As to the expediency of cooking food for catt 

 Mr Warnes goes so far in opinion as to say, tl. 

 " neither oil no linseed should be used in a crv 

 state, but formed into mncilage by being boiled 

 water." But this opinion was evidently giv 

 when the results obtained by Mr Curtis on feedi 

 cattle with linseed oil in a crude state, were i 

 known to him ; although he admits " that linsc 

 oil will fatten bullocks, experience has placed 1 

 yond a doubt. Amongst the fattest beasts c\ 

 sent to the London market from Norfolk was a 

 of Scotch heifers, grazed (?) on linseed oil and hay 

 yet ho adds, "but the quantity given pi'r day, I 

 cost per head, or any thing relative to profit or Ic 

 I never heard." I should therefore like lo sei 

 comparison instituted between the nutritive prop 

 ties of linseed meal and bruised barley, or peas 

 bean meal, in their ordinary state, ami after th 

 had been boiled and administer?d either in a 1 

 or cold stale, and also between the projils arisi 

 from both. Until this information is obtained, 

 may rest content with the results obtained by so: 

 very accurate cxperinient=i, conducted by eininf 

 farmers, on the same food administered in a wa 

 and in a cold state, and which go to prove tl 

 food is uiiprofilablij administered to cattle ir 

 cooktd stale. I shall now lay some statements o 

 robnrutivo of this conclusion before you. 



The first I shall notice, though not in detail, t 

 the experiments of Mr Walker, Ferrygate, E. 

 Lothian. He selected, in February, lb'3.'!, six h 

 fers, of a cross between country cows and a sho 

 horn bull. They had been fed on turnips and w( 

 advancing in condition. He divided them into t 

 lots of 3 heifers each, and put one lot on raw fo 

 and the other on steamed, and fed them three tinr 

 a day, at day break, noon, and an hour before st 

 set. The food consisted of as many Swedes (ti 

 nips) as they could eat, with 3 lb. of bruised bca 

 and 20 lb. of potatoes, 1-2 stone of straw and 2 • 

 of salt to each beast. The three ingredients wc 

 mixed together in a tub, placed over a boiler 



