CHAP. xi. EXPERIENCES IN CATTLE-FEEDING. 185 



second winter 4 Ib. cake ; on grass the following summer, and fat for 

 butcher at two years and six months at about forty-eight scores, and so 

 have three summers and two winters: but all these details depend 

 upon circumstances, nature of occupation, whether chiefly arable or 

 pasture, whether you sell straw or consume it. I have to study economy 

 of winter keep, and want to hold a heavy stock in summer and as light 

 a one as possible in winter. I use any kind of feeding stuff that 

 may be cheapest, perhaps more decorticated cotton cake and maize 

 meal than anything else." 



Mr. Charles Howard, Biddenham, Bedford, reported: "In my case, 

 I have grass land adapted for grazing and rearing s^tore cattle. I fat 

 upon grass, with the aid of a little linseed and cotton cake mixed, about 

 3 Ib. or 4 Ib., some forty to fifty head. Those not quite up to the mark 

 at the end of the grass season are put into yards or stalls, and finished 

 off for Christmas markets with hay and hay chaff, a few roots, and 

 some 7 or 8 Ib. of cake, and a peck of barley and bean-meal mixed, per 

 day. Before I bred Shorthorns I generally bought Herefords, and as 

 I have a strong liking still for that breed, particularly for our second- 

 rate pasture land, I graze a few every year. They are splendid yard 

 beasts, being so docile and quiet. They do not drive each other about, 

 but fill their bellies and quietly lie down to rest. I find, too, on our 

 pastures, they fat quicker, and are ready for market in the month of 

 July, at v^hich time they command a ready sale in the London markets. 

 My Shorthorn bullocks, which grow as well as fat, do not come to 

 market quite so early. Besides a few thoroughbreds, I have a herd of 

 well-bred dairy Shorthorns, by thoroughbred bulls, about thirty in all, 

 partly to supply Bedford with milk, to wean calves, and for dairying 

 purposes. I wean, with those I bu} r , some fifty a year. The pure 

 Shorthorns I treat more generously, but the ordinary calves have new 

 milk, about a gallon a day, for six or eight weeks, and are then put 

 upon skim-milk, with gruel made from linseed cake and a little wheat 

 or barley flour for about the same time ; they are then fed upon hay 

 and mixed chaff, with pulped roots or cabbages, and a little linseed 

 cake and meal. I never use cotton cake for calves, as I find it too 

 astringent. They are not turned out to grass until they are nine or 

 ten months old, and then are a little bit nursed in yards either in the 

 day or night, according to the heat of the weather. The yearlings and 

 two-year-olds graze with sheep the somewhat inferior pastures. In 

 the winter most of them run the pastures for a few hours, and at night 

 are put in yards, where they get a supply of cavings, hay and straw 

 chaff, with a little cake or meal, according to circumstances. With 

 regard to the fatting bullocks, I would state that the Herefords are 

 three years old, or perhaps a little more, and generally reach from 54 

 to 56 stone (14 Ib.). My Shorthorns are mostly disposed of at three 

 years old or thereabouts, and reach from 58 to 60 stone. Those I 

 keep over for the Christmas market are 3^ years old, and they reach 

 68 stone and upwards." 



Mr. Robert Wortley, Suffield, Norfolk, states : " Our custom in 

 Norfolk is, where we have little or no pasture, to buy our cattle in the 



