Many of the most complicated diseases of cattle originate from the food:
for example, it may be given in too large quantities--more than is
needed to build up and repair the waste that is constantly going on. The
consequence is, the animals get into a state of plethora, which is known
by heaviness, dulness, unwillingness to move; there is a disposition to
sleep, and they will lie down and often go to sleep in damp places. A
chill of the extremities, or collapse of the capillaries, takes place,
resulting in diseases of the lungs and pleura. At other times, if driven
a short distance, and made to walk fast, they are liable to disease of
the brain and other organs, which frequently terminates fatally.
The food may be of such a nature as shall be very difficult of
digestion, such as cornstalks, foxgrass, frosted turnips, &c. The clover
and grasses may abound in woody fibre, in consequence of being cut too
late; they will then require more than the usual amount of gastric
fluids to insalivate them, and more time to masticate, and, finally,
extract their nutrimental properties. The stomach becomes overworked,
producing sympathetic diseases of the brain and nervous structures. The
stomach not being able to act on fibrous matter with the same despatch
as on softer materials, the former accumulates in its different
compartments, distends the viscera, interferes with the motion of the
diaphragm, presses on the liver, seriously interfering with the
bile-secreting process. In order to prevent the grass and clover from
becoming tough and fibrous, it should be mowed early, and while in
flower, and should be afterwards almost constantly attended to, if the
weather is favorable; the more it is scattered about, the better will it
be made, and the more effectually will its fragrance and other good
qualities be preserved.
The food may also be deficient in nutriment. The effects of insufficient
food are too well known to need much description: debility includes them
all; it invades every function of the animal economy. And as life is
the sum of the powers that resist disease, if disease is only the
instrument of death, it follows, of course, that whatever enfeebles
life, or, in other words, produces debility, must predispose to disease.
Many cattle, during the winter, live on bad hay, which does not appear
to contain any of that saccharine and mucilaginous matter which is found
in good hay. When the spring comes, they are turned out to grass, and
thus regain their flesh. Many, however, die in consequence of the sudden
change.
It has been satisfactorily proved that fat cattle, of the best quality,
may be produced by feeding them on boiled food.
Dr. Whitlaw says, "On one occasion, a number of cows were selected from
a large stock, for the express purpose of making the trial: they were
such as appeared to be of the best kind, and those that gave the richest
milk. In order to ascertain what particular food would produce the best
milk, different species of grass and clover were tried separately, and
the quality and flavor of the butter were found to vary very much. But
what was of the most importance, many of the grasses were found to be
coated with silecia, or decomposed sand, too hard and insoluble for the
stomachs of cattle. In consequence of this, the grass was cut and well
steamed, and it was found to be readily digested; and the butter, that
was made from the milk, much firmer, better flavored, and would keep
longer without salt than any other kind. Another circumstance that
attended the experiment was that, in all the various grasses and grain
that were intended by our Creator as food for man or beast, the various
oils that enter into their composition were so powerfully assimilated or
combined with the other properties of the farinaceous plants, that the
oil partook of the character of essential oil, and was not so easily
evaporated as that of poisonous vegetables; and experience has proved
that the same quantity of grass, steamed and given to the cattle, will
produce more butter than when given in its dry state. This fact being
established from numerous experiments, then there must be a great saving
and superiority in this mode of feeding. The meat of such cattle is
more wholesome, tender, and better flavored than when fed in the
ordinary way." (For process of steaming, see Dadd's work on the Horse,
p. 67.)
A mixed diet (boiled) is supposed to be the most economical for
fattening cattle. "A Scotchman, who fattens 150 head of Galloway cattle,
annually, finds it most profitable to feed with bruised flaxseed, boiled
with meal or barley, oats or Indian corn, at the rate of one part
flaxseed to three parts meal, by weight,--the cooked compound to be
afterwards mixed with cut straw or hay. From four to twelve pounds of
the compound are given to each beast per day." The editor of the Albany
Cultivator adds, "Would it not be well for some of our farmers, who
stall-feed cattle, to try this or a similar mode? We are by no means
certain that the ordinary food (meaning, probably, bad hay and
cornstalks) would pay the expense of cooking; but flaxseed is known to
be highly nutritious, and the cooking would not only facilitate its
digestion, but it would serve, by mixing, to render the other food
palatable, and, by promoting the appetite and health of the animal,
would be likely to hasten its thrift."
Mr. Hutton, who has long been celebrated for producing exceedingly fat
cattle at a small cost, estimates that cost as follows:--
s. d.
"13 lbs. of linseed, bruised, or 2 lbs. per day for six
days, and 1 lb. for Sunday, 1 9
32 lbs. of ground corn, or 5 lbs. per day for six days,
and 2-1/2 lbs. for Sunday, at 1 d. per lb., 2 8
35 lbs. of turnips, given twice a day for six days,
and thrice on Sunday, 1 6
Oats, 1-1/2 d.: labor on each beast, 6 d., 7-1/2
---------
Total cost of each beast per week, 6 6-1/2
"The horses, cows, and young stock are also fed on this food, evidently
with great advantage."
Mr. Workington, a successful dairyman, combining cut feed and oil-cake
with different sorts of green food, found that, by giving a middle-sized
cow sixteen pounds of green food and two of boiled hay, with two pounds
of ground oil cake, (_linseed would be preferable_,) and eight pounds of
cut straw, the daily expense of her keep was only 5-1/2 d., (about ten
cents.) The oil-cake he found to be much more productive of milk when
given with steamed food, than when employed without it. Varying their
food from time to time is found to be of much more advantage to the cow;
and this may probably arise from the additional relish with which the
animal eats, or from the superior excitement of a new stimulus on the
different secretions.
The following table represents the nutritive properties in each article
of food:--
------------+--------+----------+--------+--------+--------+--------
| | Husk, or |Starch, |Gluten, | |
| | woody |gum, and|albumen,| Fatty |Saline
| Water. | fibre. | sugar. | &c. | matter |matter
------------+--------+----------+--------+--------+--------+--------
Oats, | 16 | 20 | 45 | 11 | 6 | 2.5
Beans, | 14 | 8 to 11 | 40 | 26 | 2.5 | 3
Pease, | 14 | 9 | 50 | 24 | 2.1 | 3
Indian corn,| 14 | 6 | 70 | 12 | 5 to 9 | 1.5
Barley, | 15 | 14 | 52 | 13.5 | 2 to 3 | 3
Meadow hay, | 14 | 30 | 40 | 7.1 | 2 to 5 |5 to 10
Clover hay, | 14 | 25 | 40 | 9.3 | 3 to 5 | 9
Pea straw, |10 to 15| 25 | 45 | 12.3 | 1.5 |4 to 5
Oat straw, | 12 | 45 | 35 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 6
Carrots, | 85 | 3 | 10 | 1.5 | 0.4 |1 to 2
Linseed, | 9.2 | 8 to 9 | 35.3 | 20.3 | 20.0 | 6.3
Bran, | 13.1 | 53.6 | 2 | 19.3 | 4.7 | 7.3
------------+--------+----------+--------+--------+--------+--------
The most nutritious grasses are those which abound in sugar, starch, and
gluten. Sugar is an essential element in the formation of good milk;
hence the sweet-scented grasses are the most profitable to cultivate and
feed to milch cows. At the same time, the farmer, if he does not, ought
to know that large quantities of saccharine matter are extracted from
clover and sweet grasses by the bees. Mr. White tells us that, "on a
farm situated a few miles from London, the eldest son of the occupier
had the management and profit of the bees given him, which induced him
to increase the number of stocks beyond what had ever been kept on the
farm before. It so happened that the sheep did not thrive so well as in
former years, and on the farmer complaining at the cause to his man, as
they had plenty of keep, the man replied, '_You will never have fat
sheep so long as you suffer my young master to keep so many stocks of
bees; they suck all the honey from the flowers, so that the clover is
not half so nourishing, and does not produce half such good milk._'" Had
this man been acquainted with agricultural and animal chemistry, he
would have had a clear conception of the seeming absurdity. All our
labor or efforts to improve stock or crops will be fruitless, unless
guided by chemical science. We must have sugar, starch, gluten, and
other materials, to perfect animal organization. The animal may be in
good health, the different functions free and unobstructed, and possess
the power of reproducing the species; yet, if fed on substances which
lack the materials necessary to the composition of bones, blood-vessels,
and nerves, sooner or later its health becomes impaired. Reader, if you
own cattle, and wish to preserve their health, give them boiled food
occasionally; let them have their meals at regular hours, in sufficient
quantity, and no more, unless they are intended for the butcher; then,
an extra allowance may be given, with a view of fattening. They should
be well littered, and the barns well ventilated; finally, keep them
clean, avoid undue exposure, and govern them in a spirit of kindness and
mercy.