84 THE OX AND THE DAIRY. 



It is usual to rear all, or almost all, the calves in this 

 county; the males for labouring oxen, the females for breeding, 

 or for fattening at an early age. They are seldom kept with 

 the mother for more than ten or twelve weeks, when they are 

 weaned, and fed on grass and hay. After losing her own* calf, 

 a good cow will suckle another, and sometimes even two, for 

 the butcher. 



Besides this pure Sussex breed, a larger and heavier breed 

 is also to be seen, the result probably of a cross with the 

 Hereford, though no white face betrays the admixture. The 

 oxen of this larger variety are slow, and less adapted for work 

 than those of the lighter but still vigorous and pow*erful 

 variety, which almost equal the horse as good and obedient 

 workers. These oxen are generally broken in at three years 

 old, kept at labour until six, and then fattened for the butcher 

 by seven. Some, however, work them longer; and oxen have 

 been brought into excellent condition in their eleventh or 

 twelfth year, and sold to great advantage. This plan saves 

 the necessity of so frequently breaking in young oxen ; but it 

 is doubtful whether, as a general rule, aged beasts will fatten 

 so kindly, or produce meat of a quality so good, as others in 

 their prime. 



Not only oxen but heifers are used for the cart and the 

 plough; these are not in a condition to breed, and are treated 

 like oxen, being, after three or four years' labour, fattened for 

 the market. 



The Sussex oxen find a ready sale in the London markets ; 

 their average weight is one hundred and twenty stone, but 

 some have been known to exceed two hundred stone. In 

 this county, winter stall-feeding is greatly practised, and is 

 attended with many advantages. Some farmers, however, 

 prefer feeding the oxen loose in the yard, as they find the 

 animals fatten more quickly no doubt the gentle exercise 

 increasing their appetite and digestive powers ; but then, 

 besides what they consume, they waste and trample down 

 much provender, which, were the oxen tied in their stalls, 

 would be saved : they are then more easily fed, and more 

 manure can be preserved. Previously to the stall (or yard) 

 feeding, the oxen intended for fattening are sent, after their 

 spring labour at the plough is over, to feed during the sum- 

 mer in the marsh-lands, and on the after-grass of the hay- 

 meadows. On the approach of winter they are stalled every 

 night ; and when winter sets in, having been accustomed to 

 it. are kept constantly tied up 



