408 
The Management of a Shorthorn Herd. 
themselves in doing so ; but for the summer months it is good 
land for Shorthorns, quite al)le to assist their innate tendenc}- 
to form flesh. The entire area is about IGO acres, of which 
30 are arable, always under crop, wheat and roots alternately as 
the rule. The cattle number from 90 to 100 head, pedigree 
Shorthorns and dairy and fattening stock, all told. The pure- 
bred herd numbered 40 at the date of the private catalogue 
printed in July 1879, but there has been considerable increase 
by birth since that time, and no public sale since jNIarch 1879. 
Taking its average number, we may fairly consider it as com- 
prising from 40 to 50 head, nearly or about one-half the stock 
of cattle on the land. The remainder are ordinary dairy cows 
and stock for feeding off. No sheep are kept, but about 100 
Berkshire pigs, from which produce to about 400Z. value is 
annually sold. For the work of the estate there are 6 or 7 cart- 
horses ; and now I come to that which gives Berkeley Castle 
such pleasant associations in the mind of every sportsman — the 
hunting establishment. About 50 hunters and the famous pack 
of fox-hounds help to use up the produce of the land ; the 
horses directly, in the shape of hay and straw : the dogs at 
second-hand, when it is transformed into milk ; and the Castle is 
of course supplied with milk and dairj- produce from the farm. 
Besides this consumption, cheese is made, and a surplus of the 
value of about 120/. a-year sold. It is of the best quality of 
Cheddar, and realised last year 74s. per cwt. With regard to 
the hunters, it should be explained that the farm does not always 
supply the whole of their hay. Occasionally an extra rick is 
bought, and of this, as of the home-grown hay, the horses get 
the best, the Shorthorns coming in for the outsides and tops of 
the ricks. 
When I last saw the Berkeley herd, in the early part of June 
this 3'ear, the cattle had just passed through a very bad season — 
no roots, and no nourishment in the hay, and an unusually 
backward spring had so delayed the growth of grass that they 
had not begun to show the benefit they otherwise would have 
derived from going out to pasture. Mr. James Peter, the able 
and successful manager, had certainly got the animals in very 
good blooming condition, but he owned that it had been done 
by the free use of dry food, especially of crushed oats, of which 
he thinks most highl}- as a safe food, one that never destroys 
the breeding powers. In average seasons the usual keep would 
have ensured equally good condition. He had given during 
the disastroys seasons of last year about 3 lbs. of cake each to 
the grown animals. This he does not usually give to cows, 
except to those which calve about January or February, and 
they have a little to keep up the flow of milk until they go 
