CHAP. i. CATTLE CALENDAR. 1035 



the chaff and adding a little extra corn will be the best means of 

 economising them, for although roots are extremely useful they are not 

 absolutely necessary. Many successful stock-keepers carry their animals 

 through the winter without roots. Mangel is now getting into good 

 condition for feeding, and as the swedes and kohl-rabi fall short mangel 

 may be substituted. Mangel grown on light land matures much earlier 

 in the clamp than that grown on heavy soils, and may be eaten with 

 safety and good effect soon after the commencement of the year. 



Fattening Cattle. Those within three or four weeks of being ready 

 for the butcher should be finished off with regular allowances of sliced 

 or pulped roots, and cut straw oat straw is good, and pea-haulm is also 

 very nutritious if it has been well harvested, with the full allowance, 

 six to seven pounds daily, of oil-cake or home-made meals. The more 

 varied in kind these latter are, the better. The animals not so near the 

 selling period will have a less allowance of these stimulating foods 

 according to their condition. Attend to the quality of the water as an 

 essential, to the bedding if the animals are stall-fed, and to the general 

 and scrupulous cleanliness of the food-vessels and of the animals 

 themselves. Do not neglect the currycomb as well as the clean straw 

 for rubbing the animals down, nor fail to see to the condition of their 

 bowels. 



APRIL. 



Although more genial weather m&y be expected, yet in many seasons 

 the management is practically the same as during the preceding 

 months, whilst in others a fair bite of grass may be available. One 

 word of caution and it is much required as a rule must be given 

 here : do not send the stock to the pastures at too early a period. 

 Much loss is sustained by doing this, for the early grasses have not 

 had time to gain their full nutrition. By being eaten down the protec- 

 tion afforded by the older grasses to the tender shoots of the younger 

 ones against the early frosts is lost ; while the whole is greatly 

 deteriorated by the trampling of the animals over the soft wet surface. 

 Two small feeds per day of sweet hay will be found distinctly 

 beneficial whilst the grass is very young. Occasionally, autumn-sown 

 rye is now ready for cutting, and if this is brought into the yards it will 

 prove both acceptable and beneficial to the stock. 



Store Cattle which have been winter-fed in sheltered fields near the 

 steading, or in yards and sheds at the same, may be turned into outlying 

 pastures if these are in a good enough condition, and the weather is 

 favourable and likely to continue settled ; but in bad weather this 

 should be delayed till improvement takes place. It is much to be 

 regretted that shelter-hovels are not more frequently met with in 

 pastures, for animals commonly suffer when turned into fields with 

 no protection from the wind and wet. The loss from this cause is 

 sometimes very great, for if the animals get a chill they are thrown 

 back in condition so much that it often takes weeks for them to 

 recover, all of which is lost time. Any rough shelter is better than 

 none at all. It is much the safer plan to turn the stock out permanently 



