Stall-feed

Stubble would have been much cheaper for the littering part, but it is not always to be had; whereas straw is every where to be bought; and it is necessary to charge the price of it, because a farmer may probably have a regular stock of cattle for the straw of his crop; in which case he cannot stall-feed to advantage without buying more.

Traditionally, rural households that stall-feed cattle have slaughtered their bulls after two to three years of feeding at the annual harvest festival (November through December) or the bi- or tri-annual festival of the bull, the Marai (January through February).

Poorer farmers let their animals graze on communal lands and along the roadside, and some nutrients may return to the farm although much of the dung will remain on communal lands. Richer farmers stall-feed their cattle in zero-grazing units, which facilitiates the collection and storage of manure and ensures that the manure remains on the farm.

This is, I believe, of no sort of use to a labourer; for though he may cultivate part of the land as a garden, the continued labour it would require to supply stall-feed for a cow, winter and summer, and the quantity of land he must till, would occupy so much of his time, that the take would, upon the whole, be injurious to him, even supposing the land inclosed and contiguous to his house; if at a distance, or not inclosed, the disadvantage will be still greater.

The transponder is attached to a collar around the cow's neck that controls the operating time of the stall-feed dispenser within a preset period.

After the stalks have been separated (this is later used as stall-feed along with grass during winter and early spring), winnowing of husk from grain takes place with a board.