No. 149.] 113 



FAT CATTLE. 



To THE Committee on Agriculture : 



Gentlemen^ — Asoneof your judges on fat cattle at the late exhi- 

 bition, allow me to say, that I had the pleasure of passing judg- 

 ment on the fat ox (steer) exhibited by Mr. Thomas Bell, at the 

 last State Fair held at Albany, coupled with another (since dead) 

 which had been fattened with him. I feel called upon to say 

 that I considered the one last mentioned as one of the iinest ani- 

 mals, in every sense of the word, that ever came under my no- 

 tice. He was raised by the Hon. Henry Clay, of Kentucky, and 

 fattened by James S. Wads worth, Esq., Geneseo, Livingston co., 

 N. York. The ox was about three parts Durham, and one of 

 southern native, roan color, weight 2,247 pounds, at the State 

 Fair. His points were all full ; back and hips very broad, almost 

 a straight line from the tail to the tip of the horns, wliich were 

 also straight and small, legs short and small, and to the eye of 

 the butcher, he was almost perfection. I understand Mr. Bell 

 purchased the pair of Mr. Wadsworth for the purpose of still fur- 

 ther feeding and exhibiting them at the Fair of the American Insti- 

 tute. Unfortunately, one of them (alluded to above) sickened 

 and died about three weeks before that exhibition ; which I con- 

 sider not only a severe loss to Mr. Bell, but a great disappoint- 

 ment to those who take an interest in fine cattle. Nearly 700 

 pounds of fat was taken from the body, showing that he was an 

 extraordinary animal. His mate was examined by many good 

 judges, butchers and drovers, at the Fair of the Institute, and 

 pronounced by them, taking every point into consideration, the 

 best they ever saw, and they could hardly believe the one that 

 died was his superior. He had the advantage, however, across 

 the shoulders and rump, was rather fatter, and we gave him the 

 first premium, and his mate the second, at the State Fair. 



I will here add a few remarks on fat cattle, which, to some 

 extent, may prove beneficial to the farmer, breeder, feeder, and 

 butcher. Animals that are close made, active, full in all the 

 points, rather small head and neck, broad shoulders, hips and 

 rump, and not a large fat brisket, are always to be preferred. 

 To the farmer, when he is thin, he is a worker and an easy keep- 



[Assembly, No. 149.] H 



