REFLECTIONS ON OVER-FED ANIMALS. 
19 
be shewn to be of some consequence in the choice of a hunter; for 
if women are more liable to sprains than men, it has certainly been 
my fortune to meet with more curbs in mares than horses. We 
have no statistic on which to establish facts, but I would ask the 
readers of The Veterinarian whether the like remark occurs to 
them as the results of their practice. 
16 , Spring-street, Westbourne-terrace. 
REFLECTIONS ON OVER-FED ANIMALS. 
By Arthur Cherry, M.R.C.V.S. 
The annual shows of fat cattle are suggestive of several import- 
ant points worthy of consideration. The object of these shows is 
ostensibly for the improvement of the breeds of those animals 
reared for the purpose of affording food for man — to produce the 
largest amount of animal food at the least expenditure of means. 
To attain these objects, certain particular points in the form or 
shape of animals have been found to be requisite, nay, indeed, im- 
perative. The possession of these peculiar points constitute “ sym- 
metry and in proportion to the degree of development, so is the 
animal more or less able, under favourable circumstances, to lay on 
an excess of fat. 
This power of laying on fat is apart from another peculiarity, 
which, originally an individual exception, may, by careful selection 
and attention to the breeding, become permanent. This peculiar 
quality is that of “ early maturity,” which some breeds possess 
in a marked degree. The professed aim of all good breeders has 
been the union of these two qualities. 
An important question arises respecting the best “ size” of ani- 
mals ; whether a large or small variety be the most profitable stock. 
Opinions have been much divided on this point ; but from some 
cause not easily to be understood, unless it arose from the peculiar 
views of our “ fashionable” breeders, the large animal has had the 
preponderance. That “ fashion” or some other local or personal 
view has been the cause, is obvious ; because observation and the 
reasonings of common sense point more to the opposite ; namely, 
that animals of a medium size, or rather below it, are those which 
arrive earliest at maturity, and collectively return the greatest 
weight from a given quantity of food. 
Another important question suggests itself regarding the policy 
of over-feeding an animal ; and that a large number of animals 
designed for the food of man are over- fed must be apparent to every 
