MANAGEMENT OF BREEDING CATTLE

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 225, 16 December 1859, Page 3

MANAGEMENT OF BREEDING CATTLE

There is scarcely a farm on which a herd of breeding cattle, of less or greater extent,, would not pay, if well managed; especially where there is a tolerably large breadth of permanent pasture land. Such a herd may, at the same time, be made to afford much dairy prod,u<?e, And, w^hen the farmer has made u,p mind to keep breeding; cattle, he may as easily keep good as moderate stock. ' The'only difiißrence consists in the first cost.! But a farmer who goes about with his eyes open may soon acquire a sufficient number of well-bred Shothorn cows to form the basis of a herd of great value and that at comparatively small expense. Some people suppose that if a farmer k^ep pure-bred Shorthorn^ h§/ must' over-feed a-i)4 pp!VPJir tjhem in the 1 way we see the cattle'competiug for prizes at the Royal Agricultural. Society's meetings. But it is not so. ' Cattle, to pay, must be kept well; and Shorthorns, when pretty well kept, are usually fuller of flesh than any other breed. Many of our best Sbor,thornibreeders never exhibit their cattle, because, in order to win prizes, they say they must make them too fat; yet they manage not only to sell their stock at high r^tea. for breeding purposes, bf^ \q. h^ye a }epad •Service-1 able tfefl, vWe have' bad m'auy direcj tion^-'for1 Hie Vnianageßaent- of'breeding cattle, some of 'which indicate a somewhat excessive dietary; and too far beyond the system usual amongst ordinary farmers to be generally adopted. In the Prize Essay of the ,|ioyal Agricultural Society, by Mr, Edward Bpwl^ (cif Cirence^ter, 1) tri have attiiil^ iiwtrijction?; W this wbjec^ %w

at once generous and practical; inculcating good treatment with a due regard to economy. Indeed,; Mr. Bowly's plans am- equally suitable to the-breeder who expects to sell.his bull calves at high prices for, breeding, as ,to the breeder who intends to rear and fatten his steers. He says, most truly, that, to ensure success in breeding oattle, the first step is to procure animals of good forms and sound constitutions. He considers it most important to secure a deep and capacious chest. They should be kept in a healthy condition, always having nature in view; and, though carefully screening them from variations of climate, extremes of all kinds shoujd be avoided. Thus breeding cows do ranch better ia open sheds than in, houses entirely; closed. If kept loose in, yards,: too many should not be kept together—four are as many as should occupy one yard and shed. In the summer, breeding cows should be provided with shade and water. But the young animals require the most care and attention. Upon this management during the first three years of his young catties' existence, the breeder's success will mainly depend. We shall present in a succinct form some of the main points of Mr. Bowly's management of bis Shorthornsi of which he has been a breeder for twenty years. . : < >

V The calves which drop from 'December!-'to the end of February are allowed to suck cows for a fortnight; then they are fed on skimtaed milk and thick gruel, made from boiled linseed in equal proportions. This is given twice a day, and as much as they like to drink. As soon as they will eat, they are supplied with oilcake, carrots, and hay, and at three months of age the milk and linseed mixture is given only once a day. Three weeks afterwards the mixture is discontinued, and ■ the calves are fed entirely on hay, roots, and oil-cake till, turned out to grass. Theu each has 2 lbs. of oil-cake daily, which is continued for twelve months i. g till they go to grass the following year. In July or August of that year, when about twenty months old, the heifers are put to the bull, so aa to calve when about two years and four months old. These heifers calve about May or June, and their calves are allowed to ruu with them during the summer. When these calves are four or five months old, they are weaned, and the dams are dried, "by which means the heifers get a much longer rest than the older cows before they calve again, thereby encouraging their growth. In this way they produce calves at an early age without interfering with the development of their forms. There is often a difficulty in getting Shorthorn heifers to breed if they are allowed to go more than twenty or twenty two month* before they are put to the bull, as they are apt to become very fat. That breeding early does not interfere with the full development of a Shorthorn heifer, Mr. Bowly is satisfied by his own experience, and he mentions one instance of a heifer of his which calved at fifteen months and two weeks, the calf being at its full time; the heifer afterwards gained a first premium as a two-year-old-io-calf heifer; and a second premium the follow* ing year as a cow in milk, where there were numerous competitors. She was afterwards sold at a high price to go abroad. The sire of the calf thus early produced was a bull calf about six months old, sucking a cow at the time, and running in the same field with' the heifer calf. Neither of them was more than a week over six months of age. This proves that bull and heifer calves should not be allowed to run together after four or five months old.

With the calves of March and succeeding months through the summer the plan is different. They are allowed to run with cows, nurse cows of moderate value being often bought for the purpose. These later calves are put to the bull at the same age as the earlier calves.

Mr. Bawly gives no artificial food to his cattle after they have completed their growth, and not often after they have attained eighteen months. Up to that time he considers it decidedly profitable to the breeder to. give a moderate quantity of oil-cake. His cows have grass alone during the summer, with a little hay... at night, and in the morning as the autumn advances. When in milk durhag the winter they have hay and roots. The dry cattle have straw and pulped roots during the winter. He considers this made of feeding dry cattle a great improvement. Formerly they had roots a»d s£ra,w, separately, when they eat too many roots, and to little straw; now they.eat a proper proportion of both and thrive better with little more than half the quantity of roots. Bry cows are kept in excellent condition on 45 Jbs of pulped awed.es and a bushel and a half of stra.y? chaff each daily, with no other food wliatevQr.. Calves 12 months old thrive well on. 28 lbs. of pulped swedes, one bushel of straw chaff, with 2 lbs. each of oil-cake daily. The roots and chaff are mixed only a short time before given to the cattle, and not allowed to ferment as is more frequently done. Here we iiave a system of treatment which is at once generous yet economical. Of course Mr. Bowly utterly repudiates the idea some farmers entertain that calves should be made to " rough it," and thereby to make them hardy. Such a system, however, weakens them, and if pursued towards the young stock'for three-or faurgeneratioos, will ruin the best breed of cattle in the country." On the other hand, the system, of forcing young cattle, though perhaps necessary for prize winning, is injurious. There is more risk in calving, they givVless milk, and are prematurely, old. "A cow naturally treated will breed up to twenty-years old while one too much forced will become constitutionally aged at seven or eight. Mr. Bowly thinks judges at the agricultural shows can,and do fully appreciate the merits of breeding stock when not made exclusively fat. Prize exhibitors, however, are, aware that in practice high condition covers defects, and that of two animals of equal merit th<| bsst Qonditioned-one is generally the successful competitor. In the selection of bulls, Mr. Bowly properly insists on pure blood. A well-descended bull, even if not himself a first rate animal, will make great improvements in an ordinary herd of cows, as the offspring always partake most of the character of the pureset bred parent, - l^ut a cross-bred bull, should never b^ u^ed^ however superior he may be in. appearance. But with, a herd of highly-bred! cattle, great judgment is reijauiredPin1 selecting a'bull. Breeding animals nearly related (avoiding connecting brother and sister) "if watobed with care, may be carried to a moderate extent without iDjury, and perhaps with some advantage. 9'

It will be seen that, undier t^e management above described, a herd of breeding cows will be &lisotit as available1 for dairy purposes as the stock of the moat'ordinary dairy farmer, and that it is applicable to Qvery dairy farmer in,

MARVELS OF SCIENCE. Within the last few years science, literature, and art have made wonderful progress throughout the world. Our discoveries and inventions have surpassed the boldest flight' of the imagination. Our scientific achievements have gone beyond all that could have been anticipated. More and better than this, the result of our investigations, the triumphs won, have^ been popularised, and knowledge, no longer a forbidden fruit, has spread its rich and varied "offering at the. feet of all. In the days of old, knowledge was the exclusive privilege of the i'ew, and was never regarded as the birthright of the many. The learned were a class to be revered,- but whose secrets were to live with them a,lone. The penetralia of the temple were never to be visited by the people, who if they sought knowledge at all, were to receive it meekly in the outer court of the temple, as from the mystic voice of ah oracle. But these dark days have passed away and knowledge shines, fair and unclouded in the world, bringing out, in all their strength and beauty, truths never seen in the dark days that are gone, and giving to the old truths new forms, and new proportions, forms so grotesquely represented, proportions so exaggerated or undervalued in those same dark days. But though gross darkness passed away, the old spirit still survived. It assumed a different tone, put on another shape, but in its essence it was still the same. As books multiplied and readers multiplied in proportion, it was gravely urged that knowledge would only unfit the people for their daily toil, and set them striving for those things which never could be theirs; that the result at best would be an accumulation of smatterers, who, knowing a little of many things, would bring no single study to perfection. The grasp of the human intellect was undervalued; the truth, that knowing the outline of many sciences is the way to be profound, was utterly denied; the contemporary evidence in the host of self-taught men, fond of information, bent upon improvement, was entirely overlooked, and this march of intellect, this advancement of learning, this popular progress, was set down as an idle dream. Books and lectures did much to popularise science. Another and a most successful effort was the opening cf Industrial Exhibitions. The sneer that people cared little about science or industry so long as they enjoyed the comfort and convenience of both, was dispelled when Industrial Palaces arose in Hyde Park and the Champs Elysee. Science and industrial art were no longer monopolised, the secrets of manufactures were divulged, the labours of the man of science and of ; the artisan were open to all, —a great practical school, the lessons of which were enthusiastically received by the masses of the population. .-• The experiment made by these Industrial Exhibitions succeeded. It was evidenced more clearly that science, art, and industry were appreciated by the public. It was felt that scientific investigation, industrial progress were interesting to all classes. And this fact is now universally recognised. Having this in view, we purpose devoting a portion of our space to scientific subjects, to gather from every available source the most interesting matter on this topic, directing attention to curious natural phenomena, to important scientific discoveries, to useful inventions, and to valuable statistics.