1114 New Yokk State Ekeedeks' Association 



and do not give them any grain until they are at least four weeks 

 old ; then 1 nsc equal jiarts of corn meal and start very light 

 with that, putting it in with the milk. I always keep some clover 

 hay before them, and the dry grain that I give them is usually 

 ground oats and hran. Calves ought to be kept in a box 

 stall, so that when you go in to look at them they will raise up 

 their heads ; that will drop their back do^\^l and square them down 

 behind. And I think the most important of all is the growing 

 and developing the female until she has the first calf; if she is 

 well grown and in fine condition when she has the first calf, she 

 will develop a nice udder and make a better showing in the show 

 ring, and prove a great deal better producer than one which, some 

 time in her life, has been scrimped for feed, and has become real 

 poor. I do not think she will ever do what she would have done 

 if she had been kept growing from the time she was born until 

 she was matured. Of course with a dairy animal, to make her 

 the most profitable for a milk producer, we do not want to wait 

 until she is seven or eight years old, but by growing her fast, 

 we can just as well make her a very large producer at three or 

 four years old. 



After we have them properly developed, the way that I 

 usually do in getting them ready for the show ring is to let them 

 run in a i)asture, if I have plenty of feed, without any grain, 

 until the middle of July or the first of August, and then I bring 

 them home and keep them up daytimes with a blanket on and 

 let them out nights. I think they are in better shape that way 

 than when kept in the stable night and day; it keeps them used 

 to exercise, and I think running out through the summer agrees 

 witli them better than to tie them up entirely. In the daytime 

 we usuallv feed them clover hav, and the ffrain ration is one 

 part oil meal, one part hominy, one oats and one bran middling. 

 Feed liberally so that they will bo gaining very fast at the time 

 you get ready to show thom. 



Of course it is necessary, in order to get up a good show herd, 

 to have at least two fresh cows about the time of the fairs — to 

 have two three-year-olds and two two-year-olds; and the yearlings 

 I would rather have not fresh, so that they begin 1o keep back 

 something. And the grooming — I never let anyone take a curry- 



