386 Tke Management of a Shorthorn Herd, 
in sand ; if set in cement, still better, so as to prevent the foun- 
dation soil from becoming foul. 
l oung cattle are usually kept in small yards with covered 
boxes attached ; the box is about 16 feet by 14 feet, with a yard 
of the same size, for four heifers of ten to twelve months. No 
cattle, young or old, are turned out into the fields during winter 
and spring. When in autumn they are taken in, they have 
yellow turnips and oat or barley-straw. The yellow turnips 
continue good until February or March, when swedes come in to 
take their place, and are used until the grass comes in May. For 
some years past, " finger-and-toe " and wet seasons have seri- 
ously reduced the turnip-crops of the district, and it has been 
sometimes necessary to add some artificial food for the cows. 
The young cattle have always a small allowance up to twelve 
months old ; but turnips and oat-straw are, and long have been, 
the principal feeding materials to which the farmers of Aberdeen- 
shire trust. The county is essentially a straw-and-turnip dis- 
trict as regards stock-keeping, and this main feature should be 
steadily remembered. With reference to the kinds of dry food 
given as a substitute for turnips when the root-crops have failed, 
I noticed some little variation upon the different farms ; but as I 
shall have occasion presently to glance at the management pur- 
sued by several representative breeders whose farms and herds 
I was allowed to inspect, I will then give some further details 
concerning these small proportions of artificial food which are 
subsidiary to the straw-and-turnip system. In the meantime, 
the following may serve as an average sample of feeding for 
cows in a bad turnip season : — 56 lbs. of turnips ^er diem, given 
morning and evening, and 10 lbs. of straw, divided over three 
feeds. In the middle of the day, instead of one feed of turnips, a 
mixture of 1 J lb. of ground decorticated cotton-cake, and li lb. of 
oat-husks The oat-husks give little or no nourishment, but they 
are rough and bulky, and prevent any danger which might arise 
from concentrated food, such as cotton-cake. In a year when 
the turnip crop is good, the cows would have turnips three times 
in the day, about 35 lbs. at each feed, or from 100 to 112 lbs. 
per diem, with about 10 lbs. of straw (as above), divided over 
three meals. We shall come to particular systems by and by, 
but, for the present, to generalise : — the cows are milked between 
5 and 6 o'clock in the morning (I may mention that only women 
milk the cows) ; turnips are given at 6 ; the byres are cleaned 
out, and the animals fed, and bedded with straw : at 11 in the 
forenoon they are again milked, and at about half-past 12 turnips 
(if a good turnip season) and straw are again given, and the 
byres are again cleaned : from 4 to 6 in the afternoon the 
animals are again fed with turnips and straw, and all manure 
