FARM STOCK.-CATTLE.

Otago Witness, Issue 1597, 1 July 1882, Page 7

FARM STOCK. -CATTLE.

Cattle are an important factor in the eco* nomy of a farmer where a system of mixed husbandry is followed. To keep cattle to the most advantage, whether for dairying or grazing, the size of tho farm, the soil, climate, and the nature and extent of the food produced must be taken into consideration. Generally speaking, very few distinctive breeds of cattle are kept in their purity. The most of farmers have very little idea of the qualities of any ljut the commonest sorts, and do not hesitate to buy up a cheap lot of young cattle of mixed breeds when they get the chance. It is not to be expected that every farmer can make a speciality of any particular breed, and confine his. operations in grazing or dairying to that breed alone ; but it is essential to good and profitable stock farming, for whatever purpose they are kept, that they be well bred and good of their kind. Weedy, ill-shaped beasts give a. lot of trouble and little profit. The- greatest drawback to keeping cattle is their tendency to destroy fences and break into corn-fields, but it is only the scrubbers that are so troublesome in this respect. The long-legged, discontented beasts are perpetually on the ' rampage/ leading the ihore contented and quiet ones intc mischief of which they would not be guilty if left to themselves. Culling is as necessary with regard to cattle as with sheep. ' Like produces like,' and it stands to reason that flat-sided, long-bodied cows, even if put to a good bull, will transmit some of their bad qualities to their progeny. Without adhering to any particular breed, a dairy of good cows can be formed by selecting one or two possessing; the most important points necessary -for thee purpose, and using a good bull of a tame and; contented disposition. A certain large farmer in the Lowlands moved to the North of Scotland, where, he says, 'I soon perceived thafr. one of the greatest defects in tho cattle was a. tendency to be knock-hocked* and in my endeavours to get rid of this i procured a bulE from the South of Scotland free from that defect, and with him crossed some of the bestlooking cows of the district. lat once got rid! of that narrowness behind, observable in all cattle where no attention has been paid to- th® breed ; and in a few years, by drafting out such cow- calves as did not please me, and breeding only from good-shaped ones, I made a breed for myself greatly superior, in squareness and width of body before and behind, to the unimproved cattle of the country.' Those who breed for dairy purposes are usuallyneglectful of tho shape or inclination to feed and fatten, and breed t only from the best milkers, though there is 110 possible reason why both might not be united. It is a common opinion that cows with an ayvlttude to> fatten produce but little milk. This is ans erroneous idea, for tako the caso of two milch cows with an equal tendency to lay on flesh,, one of which gives a large flow of milk and the other a less qaantity on the same feed. The cow which gives ft large quantity of milk will be always in a poorer condition than tlie other, because the food of the former is converted in a, great degree to the production of milk, while a larger percentage of the food! consumed by the latter goes to the formation of flesh — not being, according to the nature off the animal, required to produce milk, it produces flesh. Therefore the most desirable kind! of cow to breed is one which gives a large flow of Uiilk when young, and which can be readilyfattened for the shambles when past the age-, for milking with profit. The male offspring of cows of this description are generally the most profitable for grazing, though of course a cow may combine the good qualities of milking and fattening, and yet throw very flat-sided and narrow-bodied calves. When animals are bred for the carcass only,- the shape is an important point, for to obtain the maximum weight we must have a good square solid framework or foundation to work on. No amount of good feeding will make an ill-shaped beast put on the same weight of flesh as a well-shaped one.

Early maturity— not only in point of size, but in respect of fatness — is a material objectto the farmer, as his profit must in a great measure depend upon it. If animals which are bred for the carcass merely have cjuick growth, and become fat at an early age, they not only return sooner the cost of their food with profit to the feeder, but in general they also return a greater value for the amount they consume than slow -feeding animals. There must bp more profit in a steer which at three years old gives five hundredweight of " good beef, than one which takes six months or a year longer to attain that weight. The breeding and rearing of cattle maybe; advantageously conducted on most farms with moderately good pastures, particularly if aided by green crops in proportion. To ensure success great caution and judgment must be exer-^ cised in tho careful selection of thejnales and! females, having regard to their constitutional qualities. Tho bull should be as perfect aspossible, especially in such points in which the cow is defective, or the calf will be more defective than its dam.

Cattle should be kept on every farm, if only for tlie purpose of turning straw into manure, A mob of young stores will thrive upon plenty of clean straw during the winter, for it fur* # nishes them with both food and shelter. If the straw is sweet, they will eat the whole $ 9,nd if it is dry and musty, they will ru,b along

very well with the assistance of a little grass What they don't eat they tread underfoot, which hastens the rottening of it, and rendora it in a short time fit for spreading on the grasß lauds. Farmers who grow grain, and do not keep cattle to eat the straw and turn it into manure, must either burn the straw or allow it to Btand aLout the fields in unsightly heaps for years, for it is quite useless to cart it on to the land before it is partially rotten. Straw spread over the gJass would pvotect it from i;he ofi'ects of sharp frosts, but the benefit to the grass would be too slight compared with the cost of such a proceeding.