4 The Feeding of Animals 



was a familiarity with the traditions and superstitions 

 touching the care of cattle and the acquaintance which 

 a roving life would give with the pastures furnishing 

 the most abundant and sweetest wild grasses during the 

 various seasons of the year. There was not then even 

 a dim promise of the modern traffic in meats or of 

 the fine art of dairying as we now know it. As man 

 began to give up this wandering life, erect permanent 

 dwellings and confine his ownership of land to definite 

 limits, he acquired the art of tillage, not only that he 

 might have food for his family but also for his cattle. 

 He then began to store fodder in stacks, and later in 

 barns, to meet the demands of the inclement portions 

 of the year. 



For centuries, however, grazing was the chief de- 

 pendence for securing the production of meat and milk 

 because the foods supplied during the cold season were 

 not in such abundance or so nutritious as to sustain 

 continuous growth or milk secretion. Even within the 

 remembrance of men now living, live stock was not ex- 

 pected to produce an increase during the winter months 

 but was simply maintained from autumn until spring 

 in order that profits might be realized from summer 

 pasturage. Formerly the demands of the market were 

 much simpler than they are now. Butter and cheese 

 were produced almost wholly from summer dairying, 

 and no such variety of fresh meats was offered to con- 

 sumers during the entire year as is now the case. But 

 great changes have occurred during the last fifty years, 

 more especially during the past twenty -five. First of 

 all, we have a modern type of animal, greatly unlike that 



