FEEDING CATTLE. 
231 
many cattle, with a view, not only of a profitable con¬ 
sumption of the turnips, but also to makegood manure 
of his large quantity of barley straw. In December, 
1807> I saw and examined sixteen head of cattle in a 
shed, six of which were cow or heifer stock, and ten 
oxen, small Hereford, Pembroke, and one Scotch, in¬ 
tended to he killed for the family use. The shed was 
merely a lean-to against the side of a barn about 
twelve feet wide, and long enough to hold twenty head 
of cattle, or more; the turnips are thrown in a heap at 
one end of the shed as they are carted home ; the ca ttle 
are tied to boosy posts, from four to five feet asunder, 
with a roomy wooden trough, or manger, before them, 
from two to two feet and a half wide, the whole length 
of the shed, to contain their food, but no rack or cratch ; 
there is no foddering room before the cattle, but their 
food is carried up between them ; the back part is a 
row of pillars to support the roof, which, except the 
necessary gate entrances, is paled up breast high, to 
keep out swine, or intruders. 
The cattle are bought in at neighbouring fairs in 
the autumn, in different degrees of forwardness, as 
they can be procured, except a few of the cows drawn 
from their own dairy ; they are fed with whole turnips, 
root and branch, and hay cut by one of Burrell’s ma¬ 
chines, of Th.etford, given several times a day in the 
trough before them ; with this food they require no 
water, but are let out in the middle of the day, to rub 
themselves, and tread the straw in the yard; their dung 
is also daily wheeled amongst the straw, to improve the 
compost. 
I endeavoured to inquire the quantity of hay and 
turnips respectively eaten per head, per day or week, 
|)ut it had not been ascertained. I suspect that a stone 
Pf 
