REARING OF CATTLE. 
517 
body being kept in a full state, an instant readiness is afforded 
to the accumulation of additional fat and fibre. But if the 
carcase is lean, and wanting in the necessary quantity of 
muscular fibre and offal to render the parts immediately 
susceptible of enlargement, a time and a quantity of food are 
required to produce that state of body, which are often very 
improperly included in the time required for fattening, but 
which belong most exclusively to the grazing period. Hence 
the justice of the remark that cattle should be fed gradually 
from their birth upwards. 
The age of four years has been fixed as the most advan¬ 
tageous time for cattle to be fattened and sold. The animals 
that are most forward in condition will be ready in February, 
when the sale will commence, and be continued regular! v 
till May, in single animals or more from the stalls, as they 
become fit for the butcher. If any animals remain in 
May that are not fit to be slaughtered they are sent to 
the field to graze, and are sold during summer, as they 
become ready, under the name of “ grass-fed” beef. 
In the mode that has been now detailed, the rearing and 
fattening of cattle becomes a systematic manufacture of 
vegetable food into fat and muscular fibre, by means of the 
chewing and digestive organs of an animal. To please the 
taste of these organs, and to afford them the nutriment that 
is most proper for the required purpose, constitute the whole 
art of the process now described. The foundation of the 
system lies in the young calf having an ample supply of 
the mother’s milk continued till it arrives at an age sufficient 
to enable it to live and thrive on other food. The after- 
treatment must always be such as to promote the onward 
progress of the animal. It is a very common mistake with 
rearing of cattle, to pinch the quantity of food, in order 
that they may be reared at little cost, and a more erroneous 
idea cannot be entertained. An animal that is stunted in 
growth, during its infancy, is never able to recover the 
natural vigour; the carcase never swells into bulk, nor enjoys 
the lubricating essences, nor the nutritious juices, that are 
necessary to promote the activity of animal life. A more 
destructive practice cannot prevail in any department of agri¬ 
culture. 
It is a very common practice to give the calves, by hand, 
the milk that has been drawn from the cow, and held in a 
pail or bucket, from which the calf soon learns to drink. 
A pinched allowance is also given them in order to save 
milk, for the purpose of making it into butter and cheese. 
But if these articles are imperatively required, the making of 
xxxii. 68 
