CHAPTER VIII 

 FINISHING CATTLE ON PASTURE 



The subjects treated in this chapter are as follows : 

 (i) Wintering cattle prior to finishing them on grass; 

 (2) Most suitable pastures; (3) Turning animals out to 

 graze; (4) Finishing with or without meal ; (5) Finish- 

 ing in the early summer; (6) Finishing in the late 

 summer; (7) Miscellaneous observations on finishing 

 on grass; and (8) Relative profit from finishing on grass 

 and in the stall or shed. 



Wintering prior to finishing on grass. — \A^hen cattle 

 are to be finished on grass, the character of the feeding 

 the previous winter will be influenced chiefly by the 

 feeding to be adopted when the animals are on pasture 

 and by the season at which they are to be marketed, 

 but more especially the latter. If they are to be mar- 

 keted in the early summer, the feeding of a certain 

 amount of grain is necessar}^. If they are to be sold 

 still later, they may, in some instances, be finished with- 

 out grain. 



The food rations will vary with the production 

 which is most plentiful in the locality. The roughage 

 will include one or more of any grasses, one or more of 

 an}^ clovers, or one or more of any of the varieties of 

 corn or sorghum grown. The corn and sorghum may 

 be fed in the dry form, but the results will be 

 better when they are fed as ensilage. These may 

 be fed singly, but it will be preferable to feed them in 

 certain combinations. Where corn and sorghums ma}^ 

 be grown successfully, the aim should be to make one 

 of these fed as ensilage form a considerable part of the 

 roughage, if not, indeed, the basis of the same, on the 

 grounds of suitability and cheapness. Some kinds of 



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