354 



REARING AND FEEDING OF ANIMALS. 



stock may be reduced to the means possessed for carrying it on in a proper 

 manner. 



In all cases, then, the study of the feeder, must be to carry on the feeding 

 animals with a full allowance of good food from their birth to their maturity. 

 But the period at which he can relax a little in this system of full feeding, and 

 substitute more common provender, is in the second winter. Yet even while 

 he does relax to the extent of diminishing the more feeding food, he must take 

 especial care that the animals, if they shall not gain fat, shall lose no part of 

 their former condition. It is opposed to all the true principles of breeding to 

 allow animals to fall off from the condition at which they had arrived. 



It is not necessary, however, after the first winter, to give the same high 

 feeding to the females intended for breeding, as to the males. The object pro- 

 posed with the females intended for breeding, is not to render them fat, but to 

 maintain them in a healthy and growing state. This is to be done, not by 

 giving them a full allowance of the richer food, but such a portion of it only, 

 as, joined to the more common provender of the farm, will maintain them in a 

 healthy state. When the yearling steers are to be carried on during their 

 second winter, on a modified, and not a full allowance of richer food, then the 

 heifers need not be separated from them, because both are to be fed in the same 

 manner; but when the steers are at this time to receive full feeding, then the 

 heifers are to be put into a yard with a shed by themselves. They should not 

 be tied to stakes, according to the common practice, but kept in yards with 

 sheds. In the following summer they are pastured along with the older cows, 

 and receive the male as soon as they are ready to do so, which, in the case of 

 heifers, is later than in that of older cows. When winter comes, th.ey are to 

 be put into their separate pen again, and fed as in the first winter, and when 

 wit n in a few weeks of the period of calving, they may be tied up gently in their 

 stall, or be put into a separate box. 



But to return to the feeding stock: The yearling steers are fed in their 

 yards, either with their full allowance of straw and green food, or else with a 

 full allowance of dried provender, and a modified allowance of green food. By 

 the month of May they have completed their second year, and are now termed 

 two-year-old steers. When the pastures are fully ready for them, they are 

 turned out to feed, and are kept in these pastures until the herbage fails in 

 autumn, when they are to be taken up once more and fed on green food in the 

 fullest quantity in which they can consume it. 



Two methods may be adopted in this final feeding of the animals. They 

 may either be tied in the house, having a trough or manger to feed from, or 

 they may be kept in small yards, with open sheds attached. 



In the first case, that is, when confined to the house, and fed from a trough 

 or manger, the animals are tied by the neck to upright posts. The best method 

 of attaching them is by a light chain, which encircles the neck, and is fastened 

 to a ring, moveable upon a stake. In this manner the animal has the power 

 of raising and lowering his head with such freedom as permits him to lie 

 down. 



But instead of a series of upright posts, it is better that each animal have 

 his own stall. A partition of wood at the heads of the oxen, or, a very good 

 substitute, a broad stone, is placed between each animal. A bar of iron is then 

 fastened to the stall, with a ring moveable upon it, to which is fixed the chain 

 which goes round the neck of the animal. In this manner each ox is prevented 

 from interfering with the provender of his neighbour, in the manner shown 

 under the head farm-buildings. 



The other system of feeding is in small yards, with sheds. Each shed with 

 its yard should be of a size to contain easily two oxen, or, if it is made of a size 

 to hold four oxen, there should be a division between each pair, so that more 

 than two shall not be together; and in the open yard, and close to the wall, 

 should be fixed troughs for holding the provender. 



Under this system of feeding, the animals have more freedom than when fed 

 inclose houses; and that moderate exercise, which, without impeding their 

 fattening, tends to keep them in health. They receive the benefit of the sun 

 and air, and have always the shelter shed to retire to. They have the power 

 of going to their food at all times, even during the night, and this food being in 



