CATTLE. 99 



It is too often the case that young animals are stinted in their food and their growth 

 thus stunted from birth. In raising animals, quite as much depends upon the amount and 

 quality of food given, as in the breed itself. The animal system cannot develop and build 

 up unless it has the material to build up with, and this can only be supplied through the 

 food. New milk is thought by some dairymen to be too expensive to feed for a long time to 

 calves, and it may be gradually substituted by warmed skimmed milk, but of course the new 

 milk is better for the calf, being more nutritious, and it should have such food for at least 

 three weeks. After this period new milk may &quot;be given in part, if desired, and the warm 

 skimmed milk added. Oat or barley meal made into a gruel by being thoroughly cooked 

 may also be given in small quantities at first, gradually increasing the rations. Coarse corn 

 meal should never be given to young calves, and never raw. Fine corn meal, well cooked, 

 may be fed to advantage. Oil meal is thought by many to be very good for this purpose. 

 Flaxseed boiled for several hours until it is of the consistency of jelly, is also good for this 

 purpose. These when fed should always be mixed with the milk. 



If the weather is sufficiently warm, after a while it will be well to allow the calf to 

 remain during pleasant days in a small yard where there is green grass. It will soon learn 

 to nibble the grass, and drink water; besides all animals thrive better to be allowed the sun 

 shine a portion of the time. At night, and on cold or stormy days, the calf should be kept 

 in a warm stable. Calves, and all young animals, should always have access to a plentiful 

 siipply of pure water. Calves will also early learn to eat nice rowen hay. A little salt should 

 also be given them as often as once a week, either in their food or in a separate trough. The 

 longer the milk and meal rations are continued, the better for the calf. Liberal feeding of 

 this kind continued through the summer, will well repay in the superior quality of the animal 

 thus produced. 



Successful cattle feeding begins with calf feeding, while neglected calves will scarcely 

 ever grow into profitable beeves or valuable dairy cows: Any check in the growth of a calf 

 from its birth, is a loss to the owner, as it will require a larger amount of food to counteract 

 it, besides a loss of time; and the skillful feeder, understanding this, strives to keep up a con 

 stant growth of his calves by liberal feeding and a proper development of the digestive pow 

 ers. Calves and all young animals should always receive kind and gentle treatment. They 

 should be frequently handled, and in this way made docile, a lesson that they will never for 

 get, while at the same time harsh tones and rough treatment will be equally well remembered, 

 and their effects be correspondingly detrimental. A heifer or steer that has been made wild 

 and timid by rough treatment, although a really fine animal, can never be of as much value 

 to the owner as one that is docile and has never learned to fear man. 



Fall and Winter Care of Calves. A small ration of grain, such as oats or wheat 

 middlings and oats, is highly beneficial to calves all through the fall and winter. Beginning 

 in August with a pint a day, they will soon eat two quarts per day, and the growth will be 

 steady. English breeders use linseed oil cake or oil meal quite extensively, one pint a day 

 being given to each calf until the milk supply is wholly withdrawn, when a quart of oil meal 

 and middlings mixed is fed. Corn should never be given as a principal food to young animals, 

 since the albuminoids and phosphates are in too small proportion in corn to produce a full 

 and complete development of muscles and bones. It also has an unpleasant effect upon the 

 stomach and bowels of calves, being difficult of digestion as well as too laxative. The following 

 by a prominent Western breeder gives such excellent advice on the winter care of calves, that 

 we give it insertion. 



The first winter is a trying time for calves. Some, who mean to be judicious feeders, 

 think the calf needs to be toughened the first winter, so that he may not become too delicate, 

 and may have a healthy, strong constitution. So the calf is often required to dig for its grass 

 under the snow, pick at straw stacks, or run in a stalk field, exposed in the most inclement 



