STALL FEEDING. 



of food which will give the greatest 

 increase of flesh per week on a cer- 

 tain weight of beasts when put up to 

 fatten, all the food given to the cat- 

 tle be carefully weighed, and no more 

 given in any day tlian is needful. 

 The quality of tiie food should also 

 be attended to ; for a truss of fine, 

 well-made clover, lucern, or sainfoin 

 hay, may contain double the nourish- 

 ment of another truss of coarse marsh 

 hay. The best kind of food should al- 

 ways be reserved for fattening cattle. 

 Roots are e.vccllent helps ; but roots 

 alone are too watery, and must be 

 corrected by dry food, sucii as straw 

 cut into chafl", or good hay, and es- 

 pecially farinaceous food, whether it 

 be corn ground or bruised, or oil-cake 

 after the oil has been expressed. By 

 a judicious mixture of food, a much 

 greater increase of flesh may be pro- 

 duced than by an irregular mode of 

 feeding, however good the quality or 

 abundant the quantity given may be. 

 To over feed is as unprotitable as to 

 starve a beast, and produces similar 

 effects. It is of great importance 

 that the cattle should be fed with 

 great punctuality at certain hours du- 

 ring the day, and that the troughs 

 should be cleared of all the remains 

 of food which they do not eat at each 

 time of feeding. Rest and sleep are 

 great aids to digestion, and a little 

 gentle exercise after sleep prepares 

 the stomach for a fresh supply of 

 food : air, also, is highly conducive to 

 health ; and hence those beasts which 

 are allowed to move about in a loose 

 stall or a small yard, protected from 

 the rain and wind, thrive belter in 

 general than those which are tied up. 

 It is the practice of many good feed- 

 ers to put oxen in pairs in small 

 stalls, partly open, so that they may 

 be in the air, or under shelter, as they 

 prefer ; and the finest o.xen, if not the 

 fattest, are prepared for the market 

 in this way. E.xperience shows that 

 all domestic animals hke com|)any, 

 and that they are more contented and 

 quiet when they have a companion 

 than when they are alone. This is 

 the reason why they are put up in 

 pairs. Whatever promotes the health 



and comfort of the animal will be 

 most prolitabh; to the feeder. When 

 a beast has acciuired a certain degree 

 of fatness, it is a nice point to decide 

 whether it would be best to send hiia 

 to market or continue to feed him. 

 This is often decided by mere caprice 

 or fancy ; but if the food has been 

 weighed, and the weekly increase of 

 the beast is noted, which is best 

 done by weighing, but may nearly be 

 guessed by measuring, it becomes a 

 mere question in arithmetic to deter- 

 mine whether his increase pays for 

 his food and attendance ; if it does 

 not, there is a loss in keeping hiin ; 

 and if a lean animal put in his stead 

 would increase faster on the same 

 food, every day he is kept there is a 

 loss of the difference between the in- 

 crease of the two. The pride of pro- 

 ducing a wonderful animal at a fair 

 or show may be dearly paid for, and 

 must be put down to the account of 

 luxuries, such as keeping hunters or 

 race-horses. 



" The most profitable food for fat- 

 tening cattle is, in general, the prod- 

 uce of the farm ; the expense of all 

 purchased food is increased by the 

 profit of the dealer and the carriage 

 of it ; and the only compensation for 

 this additional cost may be in in- 

 creasing the manure, where the straw 

 and roots of the farm are deficient. 

 In that case, oil-cake, or even corn, 

 may be purchased with advantage; 

 since by means of the manure, crops 

 may be raised which without it must 

 fail. The stalling of cattle, as well 

 as the fattening of pigs, is in many sit- 

 uations the best means of carrying 

 the produce of the farm to market. 

 An ox can be driven many miles, 

 while the food he has consumed 

 would not repay the carriage, and 

 all the manure would be lost, and 

 must be purchased at a great expense, 

 if It can be had at all. If a farmer 

 can feed cattle so as to pay him a 

 fair market price for the food con- 

 sumed, and something for the risk of 

 accidental loss, he may be well con- 

 tented to have the manure for his 

 trouble : few stall feeders get more 

 than this in the long run." — {Rham.) 



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