220 
On the Feeding of Stock. 
up to tlie last, and do not often disagree. They rarely go outside 
the yards, and if a flush of grass in spring tempts us to let 
them have a run with the cows we generally repent it.* Mown 
sainfoin affords them a cooling food in summer, and if a gap 
occurs between the first and second cutting of this and of the 
clover crop, there Is a small reserve of mangold to meet the exi- 
gence of the moment. Animals thus selected, thus reared from 
the first, never stinted, never forced (except for a few weeks at 
the last), in comfort as to their lair, their comrades, and their 
feeders, will sometimes pay for their food ; but this result is very 
exceptional where beasts are bought and fatted according to the 
common course of management in the eastern counties. 
In confirmation of my opinion that yard-fed beasts, even with 
economical management, successful growth, and a good sale 
at last, will hardly ever be found to leave a direct profit, if all 
expenses are fairly taken into account, I have been at the pains 
to trace out the history of two calves, reared on my farm and 
sold at Christmas, 1857, at the age of 3 years and 4 or 5 months, 
for i)5/. the pair. If the two had thriven equally well up to the 
last, the price would have been lOOZ., but, even with this draw- 
back, I think the picture will on the whole represent the bright 
side of grazing, these two calves being the pick of the lot, one of 
them possessing special powers of thriving and the price made 
being indubitably good for the age of the stock. 1 shall pur- 
posely leave my calculation without altering a figure, as I made 
it step by step and year by year in the rough draft, in ignorance 
how the balance would be found to stand at the last, when the 
sum of the items in this, one of my most successful attempts in 
grazing, came to be cast up. 
Estimate of Total Cost of Yardfeeding a 3 years and 4 months old Beast 
for Christmas Beef. 
1854 to 1855. 
£. s. d. 
1854. Michaelmas. Valuation, 6 calves, 18L ; 2 months-old calf 3 0 0 
52 weeks' keep, at 2s. 5 4 0 
8 4 0 
1855. Valuation at Michaelmas, 6 head at 71. ; the best II. 10s., 
estimated loss 14s. 
* At the present moment (June, 1860), I am informed that one yearling has 
probably lost three stone from going out to grass for a month, though kept in the- 
yard at night, and receiving a. bait of cake. The whole lot have decidedly 
gone back : they would not have been sent out, but that this trying winter, and 
this wet and cold spring, have reduced the swathe of sainfoin to about one half of 
last year's bulk. 
