Massachusetts Spy And Worcester Advertiser

[From the Agricultural Almanac.]

CHEAP METHOD OF FATTENING CATTLE.

Communicated by Mr. Nathan Landon, of Litchfield.

There is a way to fatten cattle, in the absence of the common means, scarcely inferior to the best, as the following instances will prove. I fattened an ox and a three-year old heifer, the winter past, without either corn or potatoes, for less expense than even that of common keeping, by a preparation of cut straw, &c. as follows: I boiled about 2 quarts of flax-seed & sprinkled on to cut straw, which had been previously scalded and seasoned with salt, together with some oil-cake and oat-meal, working them together in a tub with a short pitchfork, till the whole became an oily mush. I fatted the heifer first. She was of the common size, and in good order to winter. I gave her about three pecks, which she ate voraciously, and in the course of four days, when the seed was gone, she was visibly altered. I fed her regularly in this way about two months, in which time she had eaten about one hundred bushels of boiled flax seed, with other ingredients in proportion; when she was butchered she weighed 584 pounds, 84 lbs. of which was tallow. She would not have sold before fattening for more than sixteen dollars—I sold two quarters of her for $18 13.—She cost me not more than $10, exclusive of the hay she ate, which was chiefly scalded as the above.—On the first of February I began with the ox. I fed him about three months, but not altogether as well as I did the heifer. He digested about one pint of boiled flax-seed a day, prepared as above, which I suppose formed half the fat in these two cattle. The ox was short, measured 7 feet 2 inches, and when killed weighed 1082 lbs. had 180 lbs. of tallow. He cost me while fattening 25 cents a day.—He had previously cost me thirty-five. My net gain in fattening these two cattle was more than all I have cleared before in fattening oxen and cows in 15 years, and this is owing, I think, chiefly to the use of flax-seed. I never fattened cattle that appeared so calm, so hearty, and digested all their fare with so much natural ease and regularity as these. I would therefore recommend the above preparation to the attention of farmers as a good substitute for corn. I kept my cows on it alone in the month of March for one-third the expense of hay. It makes rich milk and excellent butter. Farmers! By a proper attention to economy, one half of your corn may be saved, to produce abundance in the land, and your garners shall overflow with oil and fatness. I shall pursue this method of feeding, and endeavor to improve it, and I trust I shall be enabled to say, the half has not been told.