The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1874-03-10

ter for the animals in cold weather, pro.
vided the ventilation was sufficient for
good pure air is quite as important as
warmth. So il turned out that some OF
my neigbbors who had formerly held on
to their cattle for good price in spring,
learned that lower price per pound in
the beginning of winter, gave more profit
than the higher spring prices, but the
great lesson taught was that the feeding
of old working oxen for the butcher was
generally rather poor business, and now
very few such cattle are fed 10 this vi.
cinity.
The direct profit in feeding cattle on
the good grain lands, in county that
has as good markets as are made by the
interior cities of the State of New York,
is very little under the most favorable
circumstances. Men who are good Judges
of cattle, may buy thrifty steers, partly
fatted. and feed them up to ripeness, and
then sell so as to leave some profit. But
generally the greatest advantage is de-
rived from the manure made in feeding
the grain, hay and other forage produced
by the farm at home, rather than selling
it off the farm. But great skill is neces.
sary, even to avoid positive direct loss in
buying, feeding, and selling beef cattle,
and to raise them from calves is still
more Improbable anywhere near the
cities. Pasture, is, Of course, tho cheap.
est way of increasing the growth of farm
stock, but when the pastures are no lon.
ger available, and yards and stables, and
cured grass, in the form Of hay, and
straw of the small grains, and stalks OF
Indian corn, must be relied upon as the
principal food, then it becomes necessary
to assist this kind of food, by using grain.
The great cost of grain makes it import.
ant to feed it in the most economical
manner. Just how that best economy
can be used must be decided in each case
by the circumstances thereof. Ia places
where corn is used for fuel, because of its
small selling value, true economy may be
found in turning the steers directly into
the field, allowing them to trample a
large part Of the crop under foot, where
swine will find it and turn some of it
into pork. This is tho extreme case, and
looks very wasteful to the man of New
England, The other extreme is, where
the food costs so much that the feeder
can afford to grind the grain and cut up
the forage, and then cook it before feed.
ing, that all the nutrition it can by any
means be made to give shall be secured.
Cooking expands Indian meal, so as to
fully double its bulk ; and it so softens
the particles that digestion is easy, and
as perfect as We can secure. The mois.
ture Of cooked meal is agreeable to ami
mails fed on dry hay and straw, and this
is one of the advantages of cooking, even
a part of the food-but still more bene.
fits are derived from cooking most of the
forage, especially the hard and more
woody parts Of it. But one feeding each
day, uncut and unlocked hay, will be
much realized by the cattle aud will
be found necessary to their best progress.
But only few cases will justify the ex-
penses of cooking food to make beef /;
the great body of Northern farmers will
not feed far into the winter, and only a
few Of them will have sufficient number
Of animals to justify the extra cost of la.
Dor involved in cutting, grinding, and
cooking food, and most Of them will feed
uncut forage, and ground grain, and or.
dinarily four quarts, (one.eightb Of a
bushel) per day of Indian meal, with
good forage, in full supply, will be as
much meal as twelve or thirteen. hund.
red.pound steer will require to derive the
most benefit from all the food given.
More meal will very often cause the an.
imal to fat faster, but not enough faster
to justify the extra cost. True, he will
eat less hay and other forage, the more
grain he is fed, but generally the relative
cost Of the various articles fed will be
such that most profit will be derived
from about four quarts of Indian meal
per day,and all the hay.stalks and straw
the animal will cat
Now to reply to the question put to
me, have only to say that the one and
one-half pounds grain per day oc Mr.
Brockway's steers, each, from the 10th
Of October to the LIST of the following
May, is as good a result as is ordinarily
obtained here, with good shelters and
warm stables. l have just seen three
steers turned of to the butcher, each
weighing l.4OO pounds, that for the la
days they were fed, had gained only one
pound and six-tenths per day each, and
these steers we're fed by one of the mos,
skilled men in such matters that can b.
found. But tho same man once fed from
November 25th to April 10th, a steer
that gained little more than three lbs
per day, but that was a "Shorthorn'
steer, and this raises the question Of
value of breeds, and Of the tendency o.
individual animals to surpass their fel
lows. will not take up this question
now, and only add, that the steers l saw
90 of yesterday were too long in the legs