234 
On the Feeding of Stock. 
meat, not corn, will have become his chief end. But this implies 
that the process must not only be self-supporting, but yield a 
profit in itself. 
My conviction is strong, that assuming oil-cakes, beans, wheat, 
barley, &c., to retain their present values, this satisfactory result 
cannot be obtained even at a price of Ss. 6d. per stone of 14 lbs. 
on the old system of rearing stores and fatting bullocks ; though 
on the other hand I shall endeavour to show farther on that sheep, 
well managed, will pay for their keep, and Jeave a profit under 
similar conditions. What then ! are the powers of digestion and 
assimilation in the former animal essentially defective as com- 
pared with those of the latter? I should be very slow to believe 
this. Is then the difference of result which we arrive at due to 
our management being more defective in the one case than the 
other, and how far can we obviate this defect? 
Certainly the condition of our beasts during the last period of 
their existence is more artificial than that of the sheep, and this 
is to some extent inevitable. 
An adequate supply of beef cannot be obtained from those 
first-class pastures which will fatten an ox without any aid, 
together with those of the second-class, on which, with the aid 
of a little cake, the same result may be obtained. Pastures in- 
ferior to these are gone quite out of repute, as utterly unsuited 
to our improved breeds of cattle, unless it be for dairying pur- 
poses. A supplementary supply of beef then must be procured 
by somewhat artificial means, and the cost of producing this 
addition will regulate the cost of the whole supply. With an 
ulterior view to the production of corn the secondary supply was 
long provided at a loss ; this motive has lost its chief force, and 
the practice will probably be discontinued : present prices do no 
more than represent the cost of artificial feeding according to 
traditionary usage, if they do as much, and therefore these prices 
Avill be maintained or advanced, unless either the consumption of 
beef be diminished, or science combined with careful observation 
and experiment teach us to conduct our necessarily artificial 
feeding processes with greater economy. 
It is our evident duty to make the attempt, [and there are 
several considerations which may encourage us in making it : — 
1st. If we can succeed with the sheep under circumstances 
nearly as artificial, why may we not with the ox ? 
2ndly. That kind of management which, as I believe, will 
alone give a satisfactory result in sheep-fatting, viz., that of 
steady uninterrupted progressive feeding, has not been as yet 
fjeneralhj applied to the ox. 
3rdly, Mr. Horsfall has succeeded in producing beef econo- 
mically, even apart from his achievements as a dairy farmer 
