Vermont Dairymen's Association. 85 



Ninety-eight degrees is the proper temperature for feeding, 

 and it must be fed from a clean pail. There are three things 

 that you must observe in feeding. Now, don't set down that pail 

 of milk which is 98°. if you happen to see a neighbor passing and 

 want to talk with him 10 or 15 mniutes, and then go back and 

 feed that milk to the calf ; because if you do it will have colic 

 just as sure as will a baby. Well, you have it fed on skim milk; 

 from the very day of its birth, offer it some nice, clean hay. 

 Don't throw it down anywhere and let it become soiled and smelly 

 and then ask the calf to eat it. If you do, you will have 

 trouble right here. Put it up in a little rack in the pen and let 

 • the calf draw it from that as he wants it. I have noticed them 

 a few hours old chewing by the side of the mother. We want 

 to develop that habit of cud chewing because it is essential to 

 a dairy worker. When it is nine or ten days old, after it has 

 had its milk, you might put in a very little oats. Now you have it 

 on skim milk, oats and hay; that is all that you require. You 

 don't need to put in any oil meal to take the place of the butter 

 fat. We don't need that in the dairy calf, because we have left 

 all the muscle growing elements right in the milk, the casein, the 

 sugar— the solids all there, we have only removed the fat, there- 

 fore the skim milk is the ideal food for this calf. 



Now, there is another very essential thing and next to over- 

 feeding, I think it has killed more calves than any other, and 

 that is dirty, filthy calf pens. Don't be satisfied to go out to 

 your barn and sprinkle a little fresh straw over the calf pen be- 

 cause it looks clean. Take your shovel and dig down. No 

 healthy creature could thrive on what you would find, — no healthy 

 creature can thrive on a wet, smelly bed. If you don't believe it, 

 try it for a night or two and see. 



Now you have that calf in ideal condition, it it has plenty 

 of sunlight, room enough to stretch its muscles, — and to develop. 

 But I shouldn't think the calf was raised until maturity is reach- 

 ed, so I am going to tax your patience a few minutes longer. 



In Wisconsin, the fall and winter calves are kept in the barn 

 until after the first succulence of grass is over. We never turn 

 them out on the first grass because it is too succulent and will 

 cause trouble. Wait until it is dried down. Be sure and give 

 them plenty of water. Offer it to them. We want our dairy 

 animals to drink large quantities of water, not alone because milk 

 is 80 percent water, but large quantities of water will flush the 

 system and carry away any feverish effects ; therefore you should 

 encourage your cattle to drink large quantities of water. Then 

 there is another reason, — if we are inducing our cattle to put 

 the water into the milk, it may save our consciences quite a strain 

 later on. The Connecticut rule is 60 quarts of water a day. And 



