156 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK i. 



Some farmers purchase store cattle in the months of March, 

 April, and May, and turn them upon the pastures as soon as there 

 is enough grass. Then the beasts become completely fat on grass 

 towards August or September, or later in the year, according to 

 their kindliness in taking on fat. In the county of Middlesex this 

 method is adopted with great success on the hay farms. The graziers 

 there purchase small cattle, that are in tolerably good condition, as 

 early in the autumnal quarter as the rowen, latter-math, or after- 

 grass, is ready : into this the cattle are turned, and are sold to ad- 

 vantage about the end of October or the beginning of November. 



There is another mode practised in some grazing districts, where 

 the lean stock are purchased at various periods and of different 

 sizes, so that, some becoming fat sooner than others, they may be 

 sent to market in succession. According to the management of 

 these people the cattle are sometimes kept throughout two winters, 

 during the first of which they are not at full keep, but in the following 

 summer they are turned into good grass, and fattened off in the 

 second winter with the best and most forcing food that the farmer 

 possesses. A common system, however, consists in buying small 

 cattle as early in the spring as the grass affords a good bite, when 

 they are allowed one summer's grass, and are stall-fattened in the 

 ensuing winter. 



A variety of circumstances will claim the farmer's attention in the 

 grazing of his cattle, in order to conduct his business with regularity, 

 or with profit. He should take especial care not to turn his stock 

 into the pastures in the spring, before there is a full bite, or the 

 grass has obtained a sufficient degree of length and maturity ; for 

 cattle, whose tongues chiefly enable them to collect the food, neither 

 can nor will bite near the ground, unless they are compelled by 

 hunger. In this case, it is obvious that they cannot feed with ease 

 and enjo3 r ment, and consequently cannot thrive as they ought to do. 



Where beasts are turned into fields consisting either of clover 

 entirely, or of a mixture of natural and artificial grasses, much circum- 

 spection is required, in order to ensure that they do not devour so 

 eagerly, or to such excess, as to become blown or hoven, a disorder 

 to which cows are more peculiarly liable than the other neat cattle. 

 This disorder, however, may be prevented either by feeding the 

 animals so as to gratify the cravings of appetite before they are 

 turned into the pasture, or by constantly moving them about the 

 field for a few hours after they have been turned in, in order that 

 the first portion, at least, may be partially digested before the next 

 is consumed. The former plan is the better ; the latter wastes the 

 grass by trampling. Should they, notwithstanding this, be attacked 

 by hoven, which arises from greedy eating, particularly when the 

 dew is on the grass, they may be relieved by adopting the remedies 

 pointed out in a future chapter (page 548). 



Although the various grasses of which a pasture is composed ripen 

 at different periods, yet the sward usually attains its greatest luxuri- 

 ance about Midsummer ; and from that time to Lammas it possesses a 



