THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



443 



Having had for twenty years considerable experience in the 

 rearing of cross-bred calves, auJ having lately observed that 

 several of your correspondents have put similar questions on 

 this subject, I venture to address a few remarks to you. 



The disease which your correspondent describes is evidently 

 bronchitis. It is a most serious one, very common among 

 calves before winter, most destructive to their condition, and 

 in most cases fatal. A good many years ago I lost the half 

 of my lot (40) from this disease, and in consequence my atten- 

 tion was draivn to the nature of the complaint, and the means 

 of prevcLting it. I called in the aid of a veteriu.^ry surgeon 

 (bred under Professor Dick), but he seemed to be able to 

 throw little light upon the subject. We, however, tried all 

 the ordinary cures that are recoramendel in books, and put 

 setons into the necks of all the calves. I do not think that 

 the north-east exposure would injure your correspondent's 

 calves much if they were kept warm and dry through the night, 

 and at a'l times protected from bad weather ; nor do I think 

 that the smoke of sixteen cottages in a ten-acre field would 

 have any effect. lu my own case I became convinced that ex- 

 posing calves to wet and storm in the months of September 

 and October was the cause of much bad health, and I have 

 seldom found any coughing among those that were housed 

 carefully at night at this period of the year, and not packed 

 too closely, or allowed to lie on wet litter, 



A man may put up shelter-sheds, but unless he takes care 

 that the stock are shut in. he has no certainty that they remain 

 in through the night and during rain. It is often a very diffi- 

 cult affair to get young stock into sheds e^rly in the season ; 

 extra feeding will scarcely tempt them in ; but even afterthey 

 are used to it, they will frequently go into the shed and dance 

 out again after having consumed their feed of turnips or cake. I 

 have very often, after labouring, with the aid of several people, 

 to get young stock into an open house at the darkening, visited 

 them again at night, and found them lying down under the 

 rain in the most exposed part of the field. This is easily 

 accounted for. After eating their food they probably lie down 

 for a while, and then wander out ; a storm comes on, and 

 rather than face it they fly from it, and at length find them- 

 selves nt the end of the field farthest from the shed, where 

 they probably remain till morning. I have known horses 

 wintered iri a field with an open hou'^e in it, that almost no 

 power could get into the house, although some of thera were 

 old brood mares that had been stabled all their lives. I re- 

 member hearing of a geiitleman of my acquaintance being 

 complimented upon his shelter-sheds for young horses, whose 

 reply was, " Yes, they are very well, but the devils won't go 

 into them," and this has been exactly my own experience. 

 Of course, after a long winter, storm aud cold and hunger will 

 force stock into such places ; but early in the season, when 

 the grass is green, young beasts will not go into open houses, 

 aud this is just the time when young calves lose their condi- 

 tion. Shelter-sheds to be of any use to young stock at this 

 seasou require to be subdivided and protected by a wall or 

 other fence at least half their length in front, with a hurdle 

 upon the other half, to be shut at night or in bad weather. 

 Youug stock should never he put so closely together as to 

 make their be la very damp from urine or the place too warm 

 for their breath. 



Ic is a difficult thing to carry calves well through the first 

 half of the winter. From not being housed in time they are 

 generally allowed to fall off a good deal between August aud 

 November, and they seldom reovcr fully till spring. The 

 best way iu my opinion to make good calves (next to lettiri.f 

 them follow their mothers) is not to put them out at all the 

 first glimmer, excepting for exercise, but to confine them to 



the houses and courts, where there isgeiierally plenty cf room 

 when everything else is at grass. If they get plenty of cut 

 grass besides their milk (and cake or meal if you please) they 

 will thrive more rapidly than they would do in the field ex- 

 posed to sun through the day and raiu at night, and will lose 

 nothing at the fall of the year. 



Calves reared in Ibis way never have coughs. Calves that 

 arc olY their milk entirely before going out in June, if pro- 

 tected from the sun through the day (and in sunny weather 

 they will go into shelter sheds fast enough), often do very well 

 at grass, aud thrive rapidly ; but as far as my experience goes, 

 those which are drinkinjf milk make bad grazers, and would 

 be far better with cut grass in the court'. Calves are fre- 

 quently allowed to lose much of their condition whilst learning 

 to eat turnips ; and condition, once lost with them, is not easily 

 regained. The common way is to throw the turnips on the 

 ground with the shaws on, and many weeks frequently pass 

 before the weakest of the calves break them sufficiently ; and 

 all this time they are kept in a small space of ground, or shut 

 into an open shed, and are supposed to be doing well because 

 they are getting turnips, when in reality they are half-starved 

 If turnips are cut with a sheep-cutting machine, or, what is 

 better, pulped, and given in troughs, stock will eat them gree- 

 dily in two or three days. The ten-acre field of your corres- 

 pondent would be very useful as an exercise ground, either in 

 summer or winter. It is not good for the calves' feet or joints 

 to he confined always to soft litter, perhaps wet with urine ; 

 but I would not recommend them to be out in winter longer 

 than three to four hours a-day, and this dependent on the 

 state of the weather, and in summer the time of the day should 

 be regulated by the heat of the sut?. One very important 

 thing to be attended to is to keep the sheds that the calves 

 are confined in cool and dry, and of an even temperature. I 

 believe that almost as much harm is done to young slock by 

 allowing them to become too warm, as would be done by turn- 

 ing them out altogether. 



These remarks are intended to apply to calves crossed from 

 the Shorthorned bull. Galloway aud Highland calves, being 

 more hardy, caa stand more exposure, and now-a-days the 

 best of both these breeds are allowed to follow their mothers, 

 with whom they remain late in the s?a=on, and thus become 

 very strong and hardy. Agricola. 



— North British Agriculturist. 



RfJOK FLIGHTS,— I have frequently bfcn very much 

 amused by the conduct of a colony of rooks in the tine elms 

 of our meadow, a few years ago; for I am sorry to say 

 that decay has begun among the trees, and, true to their 

 instincts, the rooks have now nearly deserted their old haunt. 

 When the rookery mustered about fifty pair of birds, the 

 music was in full chorus, and, p;enorally, one or two birds 

 whether from catching a cold or not, I cannot tell, but theij 

 voices would break into falsetto, contrasting very prettily 

 with the general harmony of thirds, fifths, and octaves 

 blended together. A very curious custom was followed by 

 these birds ia the latter end of autumn and winter. The rook- 

 ery was only used as a breeding place, and the roosting trees 

 were situated about two miles away, where several colonies 

 would congregate to pass the night. In the morning the whole 

 of the birds betook thenisidves to their regular feeding grounds 

 and a considerable muster passed over the Maidstone 

 rookery, perhaps two hundred of thoni. The Maidstone 

 birds would then separate from the grand flight, and drop 

 down to the old familiar spot, where they held a very «ni- 



