EIGHTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VII. 355 



If you use this special purpose sire j'ou do not want to bother with the 

 steer calf. I do not claim those steers will make good beef; once in a 

 while you get a fine steer, but it is not very often. We special dairymen 

 might as well say because we have a good beef calf now and then that 

 we have a good beef breed, as the beef man to say he has good cows for 

 milk. I would veal these steer calves and raise the heifer calves and give 

 them the best care possible. I have rarely ever left the calf with the mother 

 more than a day or two, sometimes not more than the first day, because 

 I have the cow where I can look after her, in a good box stall. I place 

 her there by herself some time before she freshens, except in the summer. 

 I watch her closely. When the calf arrives, if everything is all right, I 

 let her stay a day or two, depending on the cow's udder; if her udder is 

 bad I let the calf stay a little longer, because it aids me, but the sooner 

 you get the calf on milk the better. Do not give it too much at a time. 

 By that I mean, two or three quarts three or four times a day, depending 

 on the calf. Do not vary the amount; that is where many farmers make 

 a mistake and the first thing they know they have trouble on their 

 hands. Measure or weigh every drop of milk you give the calf; feed 

 it for a while two or three times a day. After ten days dispense with the 

 three times a day and feed it twice. When about two weeks old your 

 calf will nibble at something; then have a little hay there, just enough so 

 they can nibble at it and clean it up; then put a little meal in their 

 manger, after they have drank their milk. Keep a little iu the trough; 

 do not put enough in so they will nose it over and over and keep it be- 

 fore them all the time; just give them enough to eat and clean up in a 

 short time and no more. 



Now I am not one of those that want to see a dairy heifer or calf a 

 clothes rack. There is no need of it. W. J. Gillette, of Rosendale, Wis., 

 the greatest dairyman of the United States, because he has produced the 

 most wonderful cow the world has ever seen, says, "Flesh does not hurt 

 a milk cow." You can feed a calf corn and ruin her for a dairy cow, 

 but feed it plenty of oats, clover hay and some bran and you will raise a 

 calf that will have a good deal of flesh, but still constitutional develop- 

 ment, and when she comes to milk I believe you will have a better ani- 

 mal than if you try to stint that calf along. I do not believe in doing 

 anything of the kind. I know some breeders say that is the way to do, 

 but I do not believe you can raise a calf any more than you can a boy or 

 girl without giving them plenty of good wholesome food and all they 

 want. 



If you have a spring calf I would not turn it out on the grans. I never 

 could raise a calf where I turned it on grass and fed it milk at the same 

 time; then along comes the fly season and you do not want that calf ate 

 up by flies. You want a good, well ventilated stall to keep your calves 

 in during the day and let them out at night, and after the flies have gnoe 

 those calves are big enough and strong enough to go on the grass, but 

 you must also keep up the bran and oat feed all winter, plenty of good 

 clover hay, silage and all that. Those are all good so keep them going. I 

 would rather raise a fall calf than a spring calf for this reason: That 

 you feed the fall calf right through the winter; in the barn give him 

 proper care, let him out in the sun, and when grass comes in the spring 



