42 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



much in value, when it has arrived at the commencement of its 

 second year's pasturing, as it will during the two following 

 years, or until it is three years old. 

 Taking the last mentioned animal whose cost at one 



year old, was .... 

 Add second year's pasturage, 



second year's wintering, . 



third year's pasturage, 



third year's wintering, 



Cost of rearing to three years of age, . . $4-4 16 



It is not claimed that these figures represent in all cases the 

 precise cost of rearing an animal. The variations in the price 

 of food in different localities, the different modes of feeding 

 necessary for the various classes of animals raised, and the kinds 

 of food used, all modify to a considerable extent the expense 

 involved in the business of feeding. We have given what seems 

 to be an average of the cost ; and it is for those who furnish 

 good animals for the dairy, for the butcher, for the stall, or for 

 work, to judge of the profits to be made, after considering the 

 value of the manure, and the fact that on every farm there is 

 almost always a certain quantity of unmarketable produce, 

 which serves very well as food for young cattle and stores. 

 Neither should we forget that the conversion of farm produce 

 into beef or dairy products, is, in remote sections, where trans- 

 portation is difficult, the most convenient and profitable mode 

 of disposing of it. 



QUANTITY OF FOOD. 



Of the quantity of food required for feeding animals, it is 

 equally difficult to judge, with any satisfactory precision. No 

 two farmers feed precisely alike ; and no two writers agree 

 exactly in their estimate of the amount of food required by 

 cattle. We are told by one that ten pounds of English hay, 

 half a bushel of roots, and two quarts of corn-meal, or oil-cake 

 or cotton-seed, is sufficient food for a milch cow per day, during 

 the winter. Another claims to have fed satisfactorily on eight 

 pounds of hay, with a bushel of roots, and two quarts of meal, 

 or four of shorts. Another estimates fifteen pounds of hay, 

 with half a bushel of roots, or two quarts of meal, as the most 



