Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. C99 



Tills is not designed to take the place of the nsiial advertisements in 

 the newspapers, or the notices of pnblic sales, but it is convenient 

 for jjrivate sales, and those which generally are too small to admit of 

 advertising in a newspapei', such as are continually taking place 

 between ftirmers, and are generally accomplished by personal inter- 

 com-se. 



Eepoet on Mk. Atkatjlt's Great Beeves. 

 The committee, consisting of J. B. Lyman, C. D, Bragdon, H. L. 

 Eeade, A. B. Crandell, and A. S. Fuller, appointed to visit the great 

 steers fattened by George Ayrault of Dutchess county, IST. T., and 

 sold to Mr. Lalor of this city, reported as follows upon their size, 

 appearance, and more especially upon the methods by which such 

 remarkable results were attained : The beasts are of wonderful size, 

 the biggest of them standing nearly six feet from the ground. They are 

 as fat as they are big-boned, and weigh, as we are informed, from 3,300 

 to a little less than 4,000, nearly two tons. We expect to receive from 

 Mr. Lalor precise returns as to their weight on hoof and the quan- 

 tity of dressed meat and tallow from each animal. In blood these 

 beeves are seven-eighths short horn ; the other eighth is of a large 

 boned native animal. They are not pedigree cattle, but have been 

 bred for fattening qualities. The sire of their father was a Kentucky 

 bull, and the mother was from a good herd in western New York. 

 They were fed in the usual way till three years of age ; that is, they 

 liad good summer range, and sweet hay in winter with a little grain, 

 especially oat provender or wheat) shorts, on which their growth was 

 uninterrfi:)ted, but not very rapid. At the age of four the fattening 

 began. They were given a peck of dry meal each day at two feed?. 

 The meal, was mostly Indian, with some rye shorts or oat provender 

 to give it lightness, and to furnish more gluten and more bone phos- 

 phate than could be expected from the Indian meal alone. They 

 were also fed about the same quantity of roots as they received of 

 grain, nearly a peck at a feed twice a day. They had at all times as 

 much early cut, sweet, upland hay as they could eat. In'summer 

 they had two ranges for pasturage, one new seeded and the other 

 old bottom. They ranged over each lot every day, and thus had ever 

 a variety of grasses. Moreover, they were fed with hay in summer. 

 It was found that, no matter how good their pasture, they never lost 

 their apjjetite for a lock of good, sweet old hay, not even in July. 

 As the object in fettening an animal is to induce him to eat and to 

 assimilate the greatest quantity of flesh-making food, variety should 



