GROWING AND FITTING CATTLE FOR EXHIBITION 323 



or loosen all foreign substances. Clean soft water is 

 then applied, also with a brush, and for a period long 

 enough to remove all extraneous matters. With a piece 

 of shingle or ordinary barrel hoop, the water is swept 

 out of the hair, and the animals are covered with a 

 woolen blanket until dry. Much care should be exer- 

 cised as to the kind or kinds of soap used, as the ten- 

 dency with some of these would be to injure the hair. 



Fat cattle in transit for the fairs. — When cattle have 

 to be transported to the fairs by rail, which is usually 

 the case, the food should be reduced and more or less 

 modified, according to the kinds on which they have 

 been maintained. This applies to grain and green food, 

 but not to hay. For several days before shipping, not 

 fewer than four or five, the grain portion of the diet 

 should be reduced gradually, until the reduction has 

 reached, say, 2 to 5 pounds daily, according to the size 

 of the animals. At that time the proportion of the oats 

 in the grain should be increased considerably, and this 

 change should be adhered to until the fair grounds 

 have been reached. Oats tend less to a lax condition 

 of the bowels when cattle are in transit than other meal 

 factors. The whole amount of grain fed should be re- 

 duced by one-third, while the cattle are in transit. To 

 further lessen the tendency to such a condition, the pro- 

 portion of roots fed should also be reduced by a similar 

 amount. 



When at the fairs, the food should be the same, as 

 far as possible, as that fed at home. It may be the same 

 exactly, except that it may not be possible to secure the 

 variety of green food that may be desired, nor is it 

 always practicable to get the same or an equal quality of 

 hay. The grain fed as meal, also, and cut fodder neces- 

 sary, should be carried along in sacks. The meal may 

 be mixed where all get the same mixture of meal, but it 

 is better to have a quantity of some kinds also separate 

 for certain emergencies that may arise, calling for varia- 



