FEEDING BEEF CATTLE IN THE MIDDLE STATES.

BY WILLIAM C. LODGE, CLAYMONT, DELAWARE.

GRASS-FEEDING BEEVES.

I

Without entering into a description of the relative merits of different breeds of stock cattle and their general adaptability to grazing or feeding purposes, simply propose to consider such as have proved most profitable to the grazier and feeder of the middle States. It is also my purpose to show the influence of the different kinds of grasses, the quality of the soil, its "lay" or exposure, and the effects of the drinking-water upon the stock; for it is essential to have a combination of these advantages in order to make beef of the best quality and largest quantity in the shortest time.

FEEDING DISTRICTS.

An examination of the large beef markets throughout the country will indicate quite conclusively such localities as are best adapted to grazing and feeding purposes, except, perhaps, in the case of metropolitan New York city, where the demand is such as to induce the best beeves to be brought from extraordinary distances.

Beginning a tour of inspection in September or October, a period in which the best grass-fed beef is exposed for sale, we find in Montreal beef of poor quality, dark in color, and with little or no admixture of fat and lean. Coming south, by way of Portland, Boston, Buffalo, Hartford, and Harrisburg, we find a gradual improvement, while the quality culminates to perfection in Philadelphia. From Philadelphia west, following nearly the fortieth degree of latitude, we find in Wheeling, Columbus, Indianapolis, Springfield, Quincy, and on to the Pacific ocean, the same perfection as to quality.

From Philadelphia going south, by way of Washington, Richmond, Raleigh, Charleston, Montgomery, and on to New Orleans, the deterioration is proportionately more rapid than is the improvement in coming toward Philadelphia, an equal distance north of that city. Hence we infer that the belt extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean, nearly on the fortieth degree of latitude, offers the best facilities for successful feeding.

Taking, in the month of February, the tour indicated, we shall not find the difference in the quality of the beef so marked, owing to the fact that Indian corn is used as the principal food. It is, therefore, in all these particulars-in the difference of climate, the hay or fodder, and the general management, as well as in the breeds of cattle that we may look for excellence in any designated locality. Taking for granted that the stock and management are equal, we will find in Charleston, at this season, beef superior to that in Montreal, inas much as the neighborhood of Charleston is then free from annoying insects, the climate most favorable to the taking on of fat, while Indian corn is then cheap and abundant.

In the latitude of Montreal the intense degree of cold would cause a considerable consumption of food or fat, in order to generate or preserve the required amount of animal heat. The localities equi-distant between the extremes, which would be about the belt referred to heretofore, would still possess advantages over all other sections, for here we find grain in greatest quantity, hay perfectly

Short-horn Bull, bred and owned by D. MCMILLAN, Xenia, Ohio.

LOYAL DUKE OF OAKLAND.

flower by Prince Charlie, (13,503,) Lily by Fitz Leonard. (7,010,) Quartz by Granite, (7,017,) Beauty by White Bull, (5,643,) Young Broadhook by Young Lady Kirk, (4,170,) Calved August 20, 1866; got by Grand Duke (3,985) out of Duchess of Oakland by Duke of Thorndale, (2,787.) PrizeAlbion. (731.) Europa by Sirius, (598,) Short Tail by Wellington (679,) Honeysuckle by Sultan, (631,) Jane by Signior, (588.)

-by

-RUSSELL SCCIN

cured and rich in saccharine matter, as well as the most careful and experienced feeders. We may, therefore, safely infer that the selected district offers advantages superior to all other sections of our extensive domain for the production of the article of beef.

From this favored district I will select Philadelphia as the centre, with a radius of 100 miles, as specimen feeding grounds; not because the area embraced is the best, but because a representative for nearly every variety of soil in the country is there found. The counties which were pronounced by Colman the best adapted of any in the country for the purposes of grazing and general cropping-represented by the county of Newcastle, in Delaware, Delaware county, in Pennsylvania, and the fertile pasture grounds of Chester county, along the Brandywine-are included within these limits, together with the bush and swamp lands of New Jersey, the barren hills of Pennsylvania, and the sandy flats of southern Delaware and eastern Maryland.

The observing traveller, passing from one section of these specimen feeding grounds to another, would readily notice the superior size and quality of the cattle feeding on the hilly or rolling pastures, watered as they are by clear and ever-running streams, as compared with those on the level, sandy lands, however fertile they may seem or abundant the grasses they produce.

The experiment of feeding precisely the same grades of cattle upon the high or rolling pastures and the levels has frequently been tried with the almost invariable result. Those on the highlands fatted in less time, and mixed their lean and fat (or marbled their flesh,) while those on the sandy levels made tallow almost as plentifully, without the desirable admixture of fat and lean that goes to make up superior beef.

QUALITY OF PASTURES.

Judge Tenbroeck, who annually sent large droves of grade Devons from the New York counties bordering on Lake Erie to be fed by the graziers in this district, confesses his admiration of the beef made of his cattle. To use his own expression, "not all the grass in northern New York will make such beef of the same bullock as you can make from your ordinary grasses." Cattle will improve or deteriorate by a change of pastures for better or worse, so as almost to lose the characteristics of their peculiar breeds. Thus the Durhams, on the luxuriant pastures of Ohio and other first-class feeding grounds, are the perfection of the bovine species. Noble bulls of this breed have been taken to the sandy flats of the Atlantic seaboard, where the pastures were thin and short, and have rapidly degenerated, and their progeny have generally been so merged into the native stock that in two generations all traces of the high character of the ancestor have been lost.

It will be seen that abundant pasture without regard to quality is not all that is needed in order to produce good beef, and make it in a short time. Red clover is best suited to light soils and level situations. Timothy and herdsgrass thrive on heavier soils, low and damp. Those grasses are produced in double or treble the quantities per acre of the natural blue or green grass and white clover, which delight in hilly or rolling situations. Yet the latter are greatly preferred by the cattle, and will make better beef in a shorter time than the artificial grasses, however luxuriant.

EXPOSURES OR INCLINATIONS.

Some lays of pasture lands are more valuable than others when the soils are equally fertile. Those having a southern tendency are most desirable, and the herbage upon them is greatly preferred by the cattle. Indeed, to so great an extent is this the truth that cattle having unlimited range will keep the southern exposures continually eaten bare while rich pastures offer in vain their tempting

abundance. The sun, doubtless, gives the grass more strength, maturity and sweetness by its direct rays upon it, as well as by its modifying influences upon the soil. Most graziers have some acquaintance with what is known as

SOUR SOILS.

These are generally level, low and undrained meadows, often producing a large amount of grass, which the cattle refuse to eat so long as they can procure sustenance elsewhere. The produce, either as grass or hay, is never keenly relished by the animals, and will make neither milk nor beef in any consideraable quantity. Such meadows are frequently sweetened by thorough draining, or made better by ploughing in the autumn, so that the winter frosts may disintegrate the particles and allow the sun's rays to penetrate and ameliorate the upper soil. Laid down in grass again the succeeding autumn, with a slight dressing of lime, the pastures become, and for a time remain, almost as rich and desirable as those in any other situation.

MOST PROFITABLE STOCK.

It is not to be supposed that the feeder raises his own stock. This is a separate branch of the cattle business, and those who follow it are known as "stock raisers," or "stock producers," as distinguished from "stock feeders." Different localities suit the two branches of the business. Sections remote from the markets, where land sells at a comparatively low price, answer better for stock-raising than feeding, as the lean or store bullock may be driven or transported a great distance without injury, while the fatted animal rapidly diminishes in both weight and quality by any mode of transportation, however careful may be the treatment on the way. We therefore purchase in spring or autumn, as our design is to graze or stall-feed, such stock as we know to be best adapted to our pastures or mode of feeding. A wide range is offered for our selection in the droves that concentrate at our stands from all sections of the cattle producing States. Here we find the fine grade Devons from counties contiguous to Lake Erie; the mountain cattle from the Alleghanies; the Humlies, Mulies or Dodded, and other smaller cattle from the flat, sandy portions of Delaware and Maryland; the superior Greenbrier stock from the hills of Virginia; the magnificent Short-horns or Durhams from the Western Reserve, from portions of Indiana and Illinois; and even the stately Missouri and Texas herds come marching with their lofty horns erect like battalions of soldiers. Cattle of every age, color, size and quality are offered by the drovers in the months of September, October, and November, at the various yards throughout the country, and at all seasons of the year at the city drove yards.

The demand that creates the supply of such various breeds and almost opposite characteristics is sufficient evidence that no single breed or grade of cattle, however many excellent points may be comprehended, will be best in all respects for all localities.

So much depends upon the exposure and situation of the feeding grounds, their fertility, the quality of grass and water, and many other considerations, that no general rule can be adopted as applicable to all farms. The grazier soon learns from experience what particular kinds of stock can be most profitably fed by the means within his reach, and makes his selections accordingly.

For our own fertile rolling lands along the Brandywine, the Schuylkill and the Delaware rivers, cattle of the highest types, represented by the Devons and Short-horns, are generally selected, and most of the prize beeves in the Philadelphia and New York markets are fed on these luxuriant pastures. But the sandy levels of the Atlantic coast require smaller and a different style of animals. We would, therefore, conclude that the water, situation of the pastures,