2p6 On the Management of Cahes* Aug. 



TO THE CONDUCTOR OF THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 

 On the Management of Calves, 

 Sir, 



In tlie T3th Number of" the Magazine, your correfpondent 

 W. D. widies to know a curi" for young calves feized with the 

 diforcier called the cords. This difeafe is very common in Britain, 

 and I believe more fo in cold weather than in warm, and feldom 

 cured ; but, if we cannot cure a difeafe, we fliould try to prevent 

 it. I have been in the habit of rearing cattle upwards of thirty 

 years*, and if you think my way of managing young calves worth 

 a corner in your intelligent Magazine, you are heartily \^'elcome 

 to a defcription of it. If I can contribute a mite towards the 

 improvement of my country, it will give me pleafure. 



My cows, when bulled, are regularly noted down in a book ; 

 and when they are near the calving, they are watched frequently 

 night and day. How foon the calf is dropped, it is received into 

 a large balket or fkull, made of willows, with a handle at each 

 tn^i and plenty of clean dry ftraw in it. It is then carried by 

 two oerfons to the flail in the calf-houfe, where it is gently 

 rubbed and dried with ftraw. My calf-houfe is next to the cow- 

 byre, and is fitted up with flails like a ftablc, about 3 feet wide, 

 and about 5 feet long. Every ftall fhuts in by itfelf, with a door 

 and hinges, for fear of the calf lying back too far, to choke itfelf 

 in its binding. How foon the mother gets a little refl after 

 calving, (he is milkjd, and a little of the milk given to the calf, 

 as early as poflible. If the weather is cold, and the mother 

 long in giving milk, it Is taken to the fire, and warmed in a 

 pan until it is blood warm, and then given to the calf, about 6 

 or 8 gills, according to the fize of the calf, and repeated four 

 times in twenty-four hours. As the calf gathers ftrength, the 

 quantity may be increafed ; but too much of milk at one time is 

 as bad as too little, until it is a month or fix weeks old. When 

 the calf is able to ftand, 1 tie it to a ftake •, as it is more in the 

 power of the fervant to give it milk in that fituation, than 

 when going about loofe. If a calf gets cold milk, it is fure to 

 bring on a trembling, and the cords or fome other malady follows i 

 which I have often (ttn exemplified amongfl the young ftock of 

 my neighbours. The above has been my fcheme of rearing 

 calves -, and I never had one died of the cords, if fed in this way, 

 and kept dry. I am, Sir, your humble fervant, 



MearnSy 2^th March 1803. F. N. 



NOTE BY THE CONDUCTOR. 



Some otlier communications have been received on the above 

 fubjecl, recommending the like preventive as pointed out by 

 Mr F. N. We believe it has never failed. 



TO 



