138 PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY PASTURES 



Hints on Grazing 



Most watchful care is needed to obtain the best results from 

 grazing land, and only those who are actually engaged in the 

 business have any adequate conception of the ceaseless anxiety 

 it involves. Two main objects must be kept steadily in view — 

 the constant progress of the stock, and the maintenance of 

 fertility in the pasture. It may be necessary to change the 

 cattle from field to field, or to alter the relative proportions of 

 sheep and horned stock at very brief intervals. However 

 arduous the labour, the cattle must be kept growing ; and the 

 grass be so fed off as to avoid waste and ensure continuous 

 herbage. Allowance has also to be made for differences in 

 seasons. In dry summers, what little grass there may be is 

 extremely valuable for its high quality and sustaining power ; 

 but when vegetation is rank and sodden with moisture, a 

 much larger quantity may fail to put on flesh. Truly 'the 

 farmer's eye makes the beast fat.' 



No precise date can be given for beginning to graze 

 pastures in spring. Cattle should not be turned out until 

 there is enough feed to keep them going without too much 

 help from hay, nor until the ground is firm enough to prevent 

 their hoofs from damaging the young shoots of the grasses. 

 On the other hand, if the grass gets too old the animals will 

 refuse much of it, and the fodder will be |lost. Pastures 

 consisting largely of early, strong-growing grasses, particularly 

 Cocksfoot, will need to be stocked before others which pro- 

 duce finer and later varieties. Even after cattle have made 



