BREEDING CATTLE FOR FATTENING 367 



eventually fattened out on the grass with such artificial 

 foods as were necessary. We are convinced that 

 where a farm possesses grassland of decent quality 

 by far the cheapest way of producing fat stock is 

 to breed and make the cows in milk also rear extra 

 calves, especially if these can be bought from a dairy 

 where a good bull is kept. The animals should then 

 grow on the grass without any forcing, and at or about 

 two years old should be fattened out still on the grass, 

 but with the help of cake and corn. 



But the grass should do the bulk of the work, and 

 it is more profitable to help the grass with artificial 

 manures than to enlarge the cake bill above a certain 

 amount. Of late it has become cheaper to grow food 

 than to buy it, while another advantage attending 

 such a system is that home-bred cattle do not get 

 the check which attends every store during its period 

 of wandering from market to market between leaving 

 the breeding farm and arrival on the fattening farm. 

 A bunch of bought stores generally contains one or 

 two wasters which sadly take ofif the profit ; and, 

 though one cannot breed and rear everything of good 

 quality, the general level can be kept more uniformly 

 high by breeding than by buying. 



On the lighter arable soils of the Exe Valley, sheep 

 play an important part in the farming, for the land 

 is light enough to permit of folding in the winter. 

 Our host kept a breeding flock of over one hundred 

 ewes of the Devon long wool breed, half of which were 

 kept pure, the other half crossed with a Hampshire 

 Down ram. A few of the lambs were fattened out, 

 but he mostly expected to keep them round and 

 fatten them off as hoggs on the turnips in their second 

 winter. He usually had to buy in more to make use 

 of all his fodder. 



