Suggestions for Stock-feeding in the Winter of 1893-94. 4-95 
quantities ; also a bushel of roots per day, or the equivalent in 
grass or silage. Cattle with any flesh upon them will be pushed 
forward as fast as possible for the butcher on cake and meal 
ad libitum, roots, and straw. These, for the most part, will be 
fed in the open fields to save litter, where, if the ground is 
sound, and there is a fair amount of shelter, they will do better 
than they would do tied up, or in yards ; of this I have had 
sufficient experience to speak confidently. A large number of 
young cattle, down to yearlings, will have barley straw and cake, 
either in open fields or yards. We generally give 4 lb. of cake 
and any amount of straw ; this time it will be 5 lb. of cake, and 
they must eat practically all the straw. Yards must be bedded 
with stubble cleanings, which, as worked out, will be stacked 
when dry, and kept dry for this purpose and for covering 
potatoes, &c. But open yards are an extravagant invention for 
the consumption of litter, and, where possible, I shall enclose 
the shed and confine the animals to this, only allowing them to 
go out in the open yards twice a day for water. Peat moss 
will also be used in boxes to some extent, — no straw for litter 
this time. Cattle under a year old will get a little hay and 
straw chaff, with roots, bran, and cake or beans. 
In this way I hope to get through the winter without much 
loss or inconvenience, anticipating a sharp rise in prices next 
spring. I reckon that 6 cwt. of cotton cake and 1 ton of good 
straw, with a fair picking of grass, ought to winter a two- 
year-old bullock. Of course much depends on the character of 
the winter, but with 5 lb. of cake per day, assuming there is a 
fair amount of grass, he ought to require very little straw before 
Christmas, — 6 cwt. of cake at 5s. is 1Z. 10s., and 1 ton of straw, 
say at 21. spending price, makes the total 3Z. 10s. Then there is 
the value of the manure from the cotton cake, say 10s., which 
will cover cost of attendance. I think there is a very fair prospect 
of cattle paying well for wintering in this way. 
Now comes the question of sheep keep. My ewes rarely 
have hay excepting in very bad snowy weather. My Shropshire 
flock of 230 ewes did not consume 5 tons of hay last winter, and 
300 Radnors consumed even less. My practice has been for 
some years to keep them chiefly on grass until within a month 
of lambing, when they get a few roots, and about Christmas 
time 1 lb. of cake or corn per head, which is continued through 
the spring, until the lambs are old enough to eat, when they 
have the corn instead of the ewes. Of course, all feeders may 
not have suitable dry pastures in which to run their ewes, and 
my system would not apply to all ; but I am confident that hay, 
even at 31. or 4Z. per ton, is extravagant feed for sheep, and that 
