4B6 



THE SOUTHEEN PLANTER. 



[JtILT 



tor the Southern Planter. 



What Alderman Mechi says about Fat- 

 tening Cattle on "Boards" instead of 

 Bedding". 



Experience lias shown that in order to 

 succeed in farming, we mus-t produce a 

 much larger quantity of meat on our farms 

 than at present, and at less cost. In order 

 to do this advantageously, it becomes ne- 

 cessary to consume a large portion of the 

 straw of the farm, cut into chaff, and cook- 

 ed with meal or ground oil-cake. We are 

 thus deprived of the usual cattle bedding, 

 and must find a substitute for the straw 

 thus fed. The difficult question in agri- 

 culture is, how to get the best return for 

 5''our straw, your root and your green crops. 

 My own practice has convinced me that 

 this can best be done, by consuming muclh 

 of the straw whilst feeding the root and 

 green crops. This cannot be effected with- 

 out steaming or coohing the straw, cut up, of 

 course, into fine chaff and mixed with other 

 materials, and given warm to the animals. 



The feeding of the straw crop being thus 

 indispensable to profit, how shall we dis- 

 pense with it for bedding ? My practice is 

 to keep my animals on boards. Having 

 practiced the system rather extensively, I 

 will communicate to you the details of it ; 

 observing, that although attended as every 

 system must be with certain disadvantages, 

 the balance of benefit is sufficiently consid- 

 erable to induce me to continue and extend 

 it. The quantity of stock I now have on 

 boards is : lambs, 100 j sheep, 50 ; calves, 

 60; bullocks, 30; cows, 10; pigs, 200. 

 I arranged the floors of my stalls as fol- 

 lows : I may say that the bars or planks 

 may be either of straight yellow deals, 

 or of straight-grained hard woods. The 

 latter are to be preferred for heavy ani- 

 mals, as they wear off the edges of the 

 deals. The floors are set over pits from two 

 to four feet deep. It is necessary, occa- 

 sionally, to level the manure to prevent its 

 touching the boards, as it would soften them 

 and cause them to break. 

 Diinensions of the Planhs of the Floors. 



Inches Inches ' Space 



thick. \vide» between. 



Itiches. 



For Bullocks, 3 4 If 



" Sheep, 3 li 



" Pij^s, li 3 U 



" Small pigs and 



Iambs, 3 1 



" Calves, 2 3 - If 



The area allowed for each animal and ita 

 feeding apparatus is, in my practice as fol- 

 lows, (though Mr. Worms uses boxes 8 

 feet by 9 feet for a pair of bullocks, weigh- 

 ing when fat 40 to 50 score) : ^ 



Areas allowed each Animal in sufperficial 

 feet. 



Small sheep, -.. 8 square feet*. 



Large do 10 " 



Small bullocks, 30 to 40 " 



Larg& do , ... 50 to 60 » 



Small pigs, 6 to 8 " 



Large do , 9 to 11 " 



. I sho-uld say that we never sweep the 

 floor; but the animals are perfectly clean. 

 Of course the manure is taken from under 

 the boards direct to the field, without the 

 intervenient expense of double carting, 

 shooting, or turning over of a dung-heap. 

 The effect on the crop is unmistakable. 

 One man on my farm feeds and entirely at- 

 tends to 250 pigs. It would require two 

 men on the old straw-bed system.. Our 

 pig-s are never cramped now. Formerly, 

 they used to be, owing to the manure heat- 

 ing under them, and the cold giving those 

 parts rheumatism. 



One stout lad, at 3s. 6d. per week, will 

 feed and attend to 30 bullocks ; another at- 

 tends to 60 growing calves. Before I leave 

 the boarded floors, I must confess that I 

 never like the look of those animals so well 

 on them as I do on a little mountain of 

 clean straw, or a nice green pasture. But 

 this is not a question of fancy, but profit, 

 and I am quite sure that the system is very 

 advanfcngeous. It is true we like a soft bed, 

 and so do the animals ; but our medical ad- 

 visers recommend hard ones. 



As soon as the bullocks are transferred to 

 these floors, they seem quite astounded ; 

 their performance is pitiable and ludicrous. 

 The sense of danger and insecurity is very 

 apparent, and they seem afraid to move. 

 Still their appetite does not fail them. All 

 their excrement, solid as well as liquid, 

 passes readily through the openings into the 

 receptacle below. But will they lie down ? 

 Certainly not. For twenty-four hours they 

 resolutely maintain this standing, with 

 rare exceptions. I then spread a light fork- 

 ful or net-work of straw under them, and 

 in a few minutes they are all comfortably at 

 rest. The straw soon works through the 

 openings, and now they repose comfortably 

 on the bare boards. 



