300 THE FEEDING OF STOCK. 



important fact which I wish to convey, is, that a certain amount of food, and which contains 

 so much nutriment, is essential to the process of digestion ; poor food, given in small quan- 

 tities, disables the digestive organs and destroys the appetite, and though the animal may sur- 

 vive, its value is greatly diminished. Young animals require frequent feeding : the digestion 

 is more rapid, the circulation is more rapid than in adult animals. The waste of the system is 

 in proportion to the rapidity of the circulation, hence the more frequent supply of aliment is 

 called for. Very few pay attention to this fact during the winter, when animals are fed. There 

 is still another point which should be considered, in the case of young animals; it applies 

 more particularly to the first days or weeks after birth : it is this, the young are unable to 

 generate warmth or animal heat. If exposed, their animal heat falls rapidly, and they perish 

 sooner, from this cause, than animals which are older. Protection from cold is an urgent 

 measure, then, on account of the danger to which it subjects the young. Though the young 

 require a frequent renewal of food, it is only in small quantities that it is required. We are to 

 imitate, in this respect, the operation of instinct, which guides the parents in supplying food to 

 their offspring. In young animals the food which is required must contain phosphates. Phos- 

 phate of lime must be contained in the food of all young animals. The bones at this period 

 are not fully ossified, and those matters which can supply this mineral substance is demanded. 

 Corn meal is as rich as any form of food, and the cheapest aliment which can be given. I 

 would not advise a mixture of ground bones, because I doubt of their being digested. The 

 cereals all contain the necessary amount, in the condition best suited to the wants of a young 

 animal. The special aliments which are adapted to young animals, as calves for market, where 

 fat is an advantage, is linseed meal with milk; and so also, corn meal, or a mixture of corn 

 and oat meal in milk whey. In feeding both the young and adult animals, for market, it is 

 important that food containing oil should be intermixed with the amilaceous ones, in order that 

 the animal may derive the full benefit of both classes of bodies. In order that the oil of Indian 

 corn, for example, may be digested, and administer to the fat of the body, it must be given 

 with the starch. It is true that animal oils, as cod liver oil, fattens the emaciated subject in 

 the most remarkable manner ; but after all, it may do this by being assimilated with amilaceous 

 substances contained in the ordinary food. A mixture, then, of the oleaginous with the ami- 

 laceous, seems to be adapted to the fattening of domestic animals, and the good effects of those 

 mixtures are confirmed by experience. Weak aliments, or those whose solids are in combina- 

 tion with much water, as turnips and potatoes, cut hay and straw, are required to fill the diges- 

 tive organs, to create distension, without which the animal will not digest its food, especially 

 that which is concentrated. Linseed boiled in water, and which forms a jelly, has been em- 

 ployed in fattening animals, with the best results. 



To promote fattening, confinement is resorted to, although exercise is required by all animals 

 for the sake of perfect health : at the same time speedy fattening makes the best meat. An 

 animal which has been in the fattening process for a year, or eighteen months, has meat which 

 is less tender than if only three months had been consumed in the process. Exercise increases 

 the waste, and requires more food. The true system seems to be to steer a middle course ; 



