EARLY MATURITY OF FARM STOCK.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 541, 13 August 1880, Page 2

EARLY MATURITY OF FARM STOCK.

By the commen admissien of all competent to form opinions on the matter,: (says an English writer), remunerative meat production cannot be insured at the present day without early maturity and rapid fattening.- Young pigs, fed from birth and sent to the pork shops, at about six weeks old, may be made to pay, but liut the production of bacon can only be accomplished at a loss; Lambs taught to nibble oil cake as soon as they will eat anything, and kept steadily moving so that they fatter as they grow,, may, at about ten months old, be brought to'," heavier weights of carcase than our fathers used to bring their sheep to after keeping them three or ifour years, And , cattle feeding, to be rendered remunerative, must be conducted precisely in the same way. The calf .must never be stinted of food, but have plenty of milk at first, and then milk and meal with a little oil cake. Ashe grows bigger and' devours more of the natural food of the farm, whether it bo hay and roots pulp or green food, a portion of the milk may be taken off, »r ikira milk thickened with linseed meal, or linseed boiled to mucilage, may be substituted for the whole milk, but when thii it done the allowance of oil cake should l i be inoreased. The : calf,should at all:', times be fed so as to go on steadily putting on flesh more and more as it , grows; never being allowed to have a check at any time, but*to enjoy one continuous progressive development with greater and still, greater allowances of oil cake or meal, the result of which' ' will be the production of two-year-old beef. Well-bred yeuhg steers arid heifers, in short, maybe ripened into tolwably good maturity at two years old, if only they are of the right strains of blood, for agreat deal depends on this,' Practical men.of great.experience-are weHawarev." what astonishing differences present themselves in the capabilities of animals to lay on flesh rapidly and arrive at'maturity quickly. Of a number of stock picked up indiscriminately at a fair or market the proportion of " ne'er-do-well/'ones would , be large, while others would thrive to a wish. Here and' there a few excellent judges of stock may be found capable of picking outithe good doers from the bad ■- at a glance, ere their capabilities hava i been tried. But this'is'a rare gift, ahd !! 'can rii toß*Ml]r 'bje'/terrned- afeat'of-akill-to'■ ■'! be,acquired'; consequently.the necessity' ; \ of graziers who desire to produce tjro-ye : arV " old beefon a large scale, rearing their'own. stock, manifests' itself., '..C .•". . „' ',',,,.

If the uddec.be' a small -round' cylinder^;"" hanftmgjdpwn ; infront.otthe-thigbsilikVa.i.> six-quart pail, the cow cannot be a profit-.'? able milker, 1 whatw'er-digestive.apparatus. she may have, .&•.•.<::J