326 
Management of Devon Cattle. 
registered in the herd-book. About twenty is the usual number 
of calves in the season, which usually is the interval between 
Michaelmas and Christmas; but as some cows take leave for 
leisure, there are a few stragglers dropping in all the year 
round. Those cows and heifers which calve within the pre- 
scribed months get (as a rule) in addition to hay, or hay and 
straw-chaff mixed as the case may be, from two to six, or in a few 
exceptional cases, eight pounds of either decorticated cotton cake, 
English cotton cake, bean or maize meal, or a mixture of two or 
more of these foods, whichever at the time appears to give best 
value for the cost. 
If hay is plentiful and cheap, Mr. Kidner does not chaff it 
unless it is at all mouldy, in which case he chaffs and steams it, 
mixing with it more or less, according to circumstances, of 
barley or oat straw chaff, and after Christmas some pulped 
mangel, increasing the quantity of mangel as the season 
advances. Exceptional circumstances are met by impromptu 
variations of management. There can be no hard-and-fast lines 
in a land of widely varying seasons. The past winter (1892-93), 
for instance, brought exceptional scarcity of hay. The Fen- 
nington cows and heifers in milk had, therefore, no hay at all until 
after Christmas, and then only a very small quantity mixed with 
the straw before cutting ; but a substitute was given in a some- 
what larger portion of cake and corn — about 5 lb. each — some 
more, some less, with a run out to grass during the day. The 
rule always is to let the cows go out for a short time every day to 
get fresh air and exercise. In ordinary weather they stay out 
from about 10 A.M. to 4 r.M., but if the weather is bad they 
come in earlier. 
The cows calving in early spring or autumn go out to grass. 
They do not get extra food unless very exceptional circumstances 
make it necessary — such as extreme scarcity of grass, or w r hen 
they are to be grazed for the butcher after rearing their calves. 
The calves formerly were hand-fed, but then four or five 
women were employed nearly all the year. In recent years the 
difficulty of getting female labour has caused a change in the 
management. Not one woman is engaged in farm work at 
Fennington even in haytime or corn harvest. The heifer and 
steer calves now are suckled by their dams, or by other cows, from 
to 4 months. By that time they have been taught to eat 
from 2 to 4 lb. of linseed cake, bean or other meal. If hay 
is plentiful they get a little before going out. If there are any 
roots to spare — but this is not always possible at Fennington — 
they are, as far as they go, substituted for cake or meal. 
The dairy must still be supplied, although the calves, for 
