174- The 'Book of the Coat. 



bringing up on the bottle, using for the purpose an 

 ordinary infant's feeding-bottle. Most dairy farmers at 

 the present day prefer to separate the calf from the cow 

 either immediately after birth or within a couple of days, 

 and to bring up the young stock by hand. 



Different opinions exist as to the best time to separate 

 the young from the dam, some holding, and with perfect 

 truth, that the latter frets much less at the loss of her 

 offspring if removed directly after its birth than when 

 her affection has become intensified by suckling it. On 

 the other hand, it is argued that the sucking of the 

 young has a beneficial effect upon the goat and her yield 

 of milk " drawing down " the udder, as it is expressed, 

 more freely. For my own part, I prefer to let the kid 

 suck for three days, or at most four, so as to let it get 

 the " beestings " or first milk, so specially adapted to 

 its requirements at this stage, and then to remove it and 

 bring up by hand. The .earlier this is done the easier 

 will the kid take to an artificial teat, but during the first 

 three days there is but little difference in this respect. 

 As to the fretting of the goat for her young, this soon 

 subsides if the latter be removed sufficiently far away 

 to prevent her from hearing its cries. When this cannot 

 be accomplished, the plan of separating at birth is best. 



Another way is to teach the kid to drink from a pail 

 by introducing one hand into the milk and projecting the 

 second finger a little above the level of the fluid as some- 

 thing at first to suck at, this being after a time with- 

 drawn ; the other hand is used to keep down the head of 

 the kid, but it is important not to insert the mouth of the 

 animal so far down into the milk as to cover the nostrils. 

 Strange to say, most of those breeders who have adopted 

 the hand-rearing system practise this method of feeding, 

 probably on account of the little trouble it gives after the 

 kids have once acquired the knack. I cannot personally 



