scheduled markets in Scotland in 1905 (2) having been weighed,
while in England the proportion was only 20%. Little use is
made of the weighbridge in selling store-cattle, sheep or
swine. As the main object of the act is to obtain records of
prices, it follows that only in so far as statements of the
prices realized, together with the description of the animals
involved, are obtained, is the full advantage of the statute
secured. In 1905 the average price per cwt. for fat cattle in
Great Britain was 32s. 11d. as compared with 35s. 2d. in 1900.
Food Values and Early Maturity.
In the feeding experiments which have been carried on at
Rothamsted it has been shown that the amount consumed both
for a given live weight of animal within a given time, and for
the production of a given amount of increase, is, as current
food stuffs go, measurable more by the amounts they contain
of digestible and available non-nitrogenous constituents than
by the amounts of the digestible and available nitrogenous
constituents they supply. The non-nitrogenous substance
(the fat) in the increase in live weight of an animal is,
at any rate in great part, if not entirely, derived from the
non-nitrogenous constituents of the food. Of the nitrogenous
compounds in food, on the other hand, only a small proportion
of the whole consumed is finally stored up in the increase of
the animal--in other words, a very large amount of nitrogen
passes through the body beyond that which is finally retained
in the increase, and so remains for manure. Hence it is
that the amount of food consumed to produce a given amount
of increase in live weight, as well as that required for
the sustentation of a given live weight for a given time,
should--provided the food be not abnormally deficient in
nitrogenous substance--be characteristically dependent on
its supplies of digestible and available non-nitrogenous
constituents. It has further been shown that, in the exercise
of force by animals, there is a greatly increased expenditure
of the non-nitrogenous constituents of food, but little, if
any, Of the nitrogenous. Thus, then, alike for maintenance, for
increase, and for the exercise of force, the exigencies of the
system are characterized more by the demand for the digestible
non-nitrogenous or more specially respiratory and fat-forming
constituents than by that for the nitrogenous or more specially
flesh-forming ones. Hence, as current fattening food-stuffs
go--assuming, of course, that they are not abnormally low
in the nitrogenous constituents--they are, as foods, more
valuable in proportion to their richness in digestible and
available non-nitrogenous than to that of their nitrogenous
constituents. As, however, the manure of the animals of the
farm is valuable largely in proportion to the nitrogen it
contains, there is, so far, an advantage in giving a food
somewhat rich in nitrogen, provided it is in other respects
a good one, and, weight for weight, not much more costly.
The quantity of digestible nutritive matter in 1000 lb. of ordinary
feeding-stuffs when supplied to sheep or oxen is shown in Table
XIX. This table is taken from Warington's Chemistry of the
Farm, 10th edition (Vinton and Co.), to which reference may
be made for a detailed discussion of the feeding of animals.
In the fattening of animals for the butcher the principle of
early maturity has received full recognition. If the sole
purpose for which an animal is reared is to prepare it for
the block--and this is the case with steers amongst cattle
and with wethers amongst sheep--the sooner it is ready for
slaughter the less should be the outlay involved. During the
whole time the animal is living the feeder has to pay what
has been termed the ``life tax''--that is, so much of the
food has to go to the maintenance of the animal as a living
organism into what will subsequenctly be available in the
form of beef or mutton. If a bullock can be rendered fit
for the butcher at the age of two or three years, will the
animal repay another year's feeding? It has been proved at
the Christmas fat stock shows that the older a bullock gets
the less will he gain in weight per day as a result of the
feeding. With regard to this point the work of the Smithfield
Club deserves recognition. This body was instituted in 1798
as the Smithfield Cattle and Sheep Society, the title being
TABLE XIX.--Digestible Matter in 1000 lb. of Various Foods.
Total Nitrogeneaous Soluble
Organic Substances. Fat. Carbo- Fibre
Matter. Alba- Amides, hydrates
minoids. etc.
Cotton cake
(decorticated) 691 374 18 128 158 13
(undecorticated) 422 150 13 50 177 32
Linseed cake 655 230 11 103 266 45
Peas 747 175 25 12 499 36
Beans 733 196 28 12 446 51
Wheat11 786 92 13 15 656 10
Oats 600 81 7 45 441 26
Barley 715 70 4 19 607 15
Maize 786 73 6 44 651 12
Rice meal 612 67 10 102 411 22
Wheat bran 585 90 20 27 426 22
Malt sprouts 681 114 71 11 379 106
Brewers' grains 137 34 2 14 67 20
'' (dried) 529 136 8 57 266 62
Pasture grass 156 19 11 6 84 36
Clover (bloom beginning) 123 17 8 5 63 30
Clover hay (medium) 440 47 25 13 242 113
Meadow hay (best) 511 60 18 13 269 151
(medium) 485 40 12 12 269 152
(poor) 460 29 5 10 242 174
Maize silage 124 1 7 7 75 34
\ /
Bean straw 412 40 6 211 155
Oat straw 381 7 5 7 163 199
Barley straw 426 4 3 6 211 202
\ /
Wheat straw 351 4 4 150 193
Potatoes 213 5 9 1 195 3
Mangels (large) 89 1 8 1/2 74 6
(small) 109 2 6 1/2 96 5
Swedes 87 2 7 1/2 71 6
Turnips 68 1 5 1/2 56 5
changed to that of the Smithfield Club in 1802. The original
object--the supply of the cattle markets of Smithfield and
other places with the cheapest and best meat--is still kept
strictly in view. The judges, in making their awards at the
show held annually in December, at Islington, North London
(since 1862), are instructed to decide according to quality of
flesh, lightness of offal, age and early maturity, with no
restrictions as to feeding, and thus to promote the primary
aim of the club in encouraging the selection and breeding of
the best and most useful animals for the production of meat,
and testing their capabilities in respect of early maturity.
At the first show, held at Smithfield in 1799, two classes
were provided for cattle and two for sheep, the prizes offered
amounting to L. 52 : 10s. In 1839 the classes comprised seven
for cattle, six for sheep, and one for pigs, with prizes to
the amount of L. 300. By 1862 the classes had risen to 29 for
cattle, 17 for sheep and 4 for pigs, and the prize money to
L. 2072. At the centenary show in 1898 provision was made for
40 classes for cattle, 29 for sheep, 18 for pigs, and 7 for
animals to be slaughtered, whilst to mark the importance of the
occasion the prizes offered amounted to close upon L. 5000 in
value. In 1907 there were 38 classes for cattle, 29 for sheep,
20 or pigs and 12 for carcase competitors, and the value of
the prizes was L. 4113. The sections provided for cattle are
properly restricted to what may be termed the beef brands;
in the catalogue order they are Devon, South Devon, Hereford,
Shorthorn, Sussex, Red Polled, Aberdeen-Angus, Galloway, Welsh,
Highland, Cross-bred, Kerry and Dexter, and Small Cross-bred.
It will be noticed that such characteristically milking
breeds as the Ayrshire, Jersey and Guernsey have no place
here. Provision is made, however, for all the well-known
breeds of sheep and swine. In the cattle classes, aged beasts
of huge size and of considerably over a ton in weight used
to be common, but in recent years the tendency has been to
reduce the upper limit of age, and thus to bring out animals
ripe for the butcher in a shorted time than was formerly the
case. An important step in this direction was taken in 1896,
when the senior class for steers, viz. animals three to four
years old, was abolished, the maximum age at which steers
were allowed to compete for prizes being reduced to three
years. The cow classes were abolished in 1897, and in the
schedule of the 1905 exhibition the classes for each breed
of cattle were (1) for steers not exceeding two years old,
(2) for steers above two years and not exceeding three years
old, and (3) for heifers not exceeding three years old. The
single exception is provided by the slowly-maturing Highland
breed of cattle, for which classes were allotted to (1) steers
not exceeding three years old, (2) steers or oxen above three
years old (with no maximum limit), and (3) heifers not
exceeding four years old. As illustrating heavy weights,
there were in the 1893 show, out of 310 entries of cattle,
four beasts which weighed over a ton. They were all steers of
three to four years old, one being a Hereford weighing 20 cwt.
2 qr. 4 lb, and the others Shorthorns weighing respectively
20 cwt. 2 qr., 20 cwt. 3 qr. 21 lb, and 22 cwt. 2 qr. 18
lb. In the 1895 show, out of 356 entries of cattle, there
were seven beasts of more than a ton in weight. They were
all three to four years old, and comprised four Shorthorns
(top weight 21 cwt. 1 qr. 18 lb), one Sussex (22 cwt. 3
qr. 7 lb), and two cross-breds (top weight 20 cwt. 3 qr. 24
lb). In the 1899 show, with 311 entries of cattle, and the
age limited to three years, no beast reached the weight of a
ton, the heaviest animal being a crossbred (Aberdeen-Angus
and Shorthorn) which, at three years old, turned the scale
at 19 cwt. 1 qr. 5 lb. Out of 301 entries in 1905 the top
weight was 19 cwt. 1 qr. 25 lb in the case of a Shorthorn
steer. Useful figures for purposes of comparison are obtained
by dividing the weight of a fat beast by the number of days
in its age, the weight at birth being thrown in. The average
daily gain in live weight is thus arrived at, and as the animal
increases in age this average gradually diminishes, until the
daily gain reaches a stage at which it does not afford any
profitable return upon the food consumed. At the centenary
show of the Smithfield Club in 1898 the highest average daily
gains in weight amongst prize-winning cattle were providrd
by a Shorthorn-Aberdeen cross-bred steer (age, one year seven
months; daily gain 2.47 lb); a Shorthorn steer (age, one year
seven months; daily gain, 2.44 lb); and an Aberdeen-Shorthorn
cross-bred steer (age, one year ten months; daily gain, 2.33
