10 Oct., 1917.] Rearing of Calves on Substilntes for Milk, dec. 617 



THE REARIXG OF CALVES ON SU INSTITUTES FOR 

 MILK-FAT AND MILK. 



By Bernard N. Walk, B.Sc. (Agric:). 

 Priuoipal, Seale-Hayne College, Newton Abbot, Devon. 



[Reprinted from tlie Journal of the British Dairy Farmers' Association, 

 Vol. XXIX, 1915.] 



Owing to the present high price of new milk in this country and 

 to the ])roduction of cheese, cream, and butter at remunerative prices, 

 the use of whole milk for calf rearing, for any length of time, is much 

 too costly a practice ; and as, there has been a good deal of experi- 

 mental work carried out in various parts of the world with seiparated 

 milk and milk-fat substitutes, which have proved highly satisfactory, 

 I propose summarizing the most important results. 



A& to rearing calves altogether, without some portion of separated 

 milk, i.e., on milk substitutes pure and simple, there is considerably 

 less information available, this, however, will be referred to later. 



As we heard at the Dairy Conference in Ireland last year, and 

 as is generally recognised, the heavy milking cow is bred and not 

 made. Heifers descended from heavy milking dam& are far more likely 

 to turn out heavy milkers themselves than when descended from pioor 

 milking strains; and it is most regrettable, from the point of view of 

 the Dairy Industry of the future, that many of these well descended 

 calves are disposed of as soon as dropped, either to be vealed, or, as 

 in too many cases, to be subsequently converted into beef. It is 

 because of this fact that I bring forward the suggestions contained 

 in this paiper, hoping that perhaps, where calves have been disposed 

 of heretofore, as just mentioned, it may seriously be considered 

 whether so:::e of them at least cannot be retained at home and 

 economically reared, to be later brouglit into the dairy herd. 



This treatise does not pretend to be exhaustive, as time will not 

 allow of dealing with so large a subject at such length as it deserves. 



There are on the market numerous proprietary calf meals varying 

 in price from X13 to £20 per ton, and which are, from their contents, 

 as revealed by analysis, much too expensive. These meals contain 

 linseed, linseed-cake meal, and oatmeal, with a little fenugreek or 

 fennel added, which gives them their characteristic odour. 



It is not so difficult a matter to find a fat or milk substitute for 

 calves of a similar chemical analysis to that of milk, but it is difficult 

 to do so without introducing also a large amount of fibrous matter, 

 which is liable to upset the delicate digestive tract of tlie calf, 

 resulting in scour. And if it escapes this scourge, we get a final 

 result which is quite characteristically described as " pot-bellied," a 

 condition which is the very opposite to that which a properly 

 nourished calf should present. 



I should here like to acknowledge my indebtedness for some of 

 the information contained in this pa,per to the Irish Department of 

 Asriculture, the Agricultural Department of Leeds University, Aber- 

 deen University, and to other stations, which will be referred to in 



