322 ACRICl'LTURE OF MAINE. 



make as good cows as to feed a sufficient quantity of whole milk, 

 substituted later by skim-milk. 



At the National Dairy show, as reported in Hoard's Dairy- 

 man, the Indiana Experiment Station showed six calves which 

 had been used in its experiments in using milk substitutes for 

 calf feeding. "These calves were Jerseys of approximately the 

 same ages, conformation and appearance. The exhibit was 

 effective in showing two important things : First, that skim- 

 milk will produce the best and most economical gains (the dif- 

 ference in gain being 19 pounds and the difference in cost being 

 in favor of skim-milk). Second, that where skim-milk is not 

 available calves will make good gains when properly fed on 

 grain substitutes. It must be remembered that these calves 

 were given the best of care, and were under the constant inspec- 

 tion of an expert feeder." It is to be observed, however, that 

 whole milk was used to the amount of 228 pounds ; nearly, if not 

 quite, enough to keep a Jersey calf in thrifty condition for one 

 month, at an expense above $4.50 at the wholesale price of milk. 

 After a month it is not so difficult to furnish substitutes for 

 milk. The best feeders usually feed whole milk for a month, 

 and then gradually work on to skim-milk. 



A point of interest to be noted later, as these calves come to 

 milk, will be to observe whether or not the retarding, apparently 

 due to the substitute ration, continues so as to affect the final 

 body weight of these animals or the production they attain at 

 maturity. 



A. E. Hodges, of the Waterville Dairy Improvement Associa- 

 tion, a rising breeder of pure blood stock, says that he raised 

 six heifers on skim-milk, and six on milk substitutes at about 

 the same time. As mature cows, those raised on milk substi- 

 tutes were about two-thirds as large as the others, and their milk 

 products were commensurate with their size. 



A Jersey breeder in Illinois, in Hoard's Dairyman of recent 

 date, says that one can't raise pure blood Jersey calves suc- 

 cessfully without skim-milk. 



F. S. Adams is quoted in the Kennebec Journal as saying that 

 in the National Dairy Show the skim-milk calves led. 



I, myself, have had some experience in attempting to raise 

 calves on milk substitutes. The first one was a scrub heifer calf, 

 which kept alive about two months, without growing much. 



