Calf Rearing. 339 



months. Hunt* s experiments show that calves given full milk from 

 the pail require from 8 to 9 pounds of whole milk for each pound of 

 gain, and make a gain of over 1. 75 pounds daily. While in ttie 

 beef districts the calf will be allowed to take its own milk, there 

 are sections where the stockman finds it more profitable to sell 

 the fat of milk in the form of butter and use substitutes for the 

 fat together with skim milk as feed for the calf. This system 

 involves labor, skill and watchfulness on the part of the feeder, 

 but its success has been demonstrated on many farms. 



After weaning, good growth will be continued by using oats 

 and corn with a little oil meal, supplying at all times plenty of 

 bright hay or fodder corn. Nothing excels pasture grass for flesh- 

 building with the beef calf, and to approximate this in winter 

 the stockman should have roots or silage in order to keep the 

 young animals in a sappy, growing condition. The stockman 

 should not forget that the "calf fat" or first fat of the calf must 

 not be lost if beef is the ultimate object. 



527. Rearing the dairy calf. The fat of milk has too high a 

 value with the dairyman to be used for calf feeding, and experi- 

 ence has shown that dairy stock of the highest quality can be 

 produced from feeding skim milk. Under this system the calf 

 is allowed to draw milk from the dam for two or three days, early 

 weaning being preferable for both cow and calf. The calf should 

 always get the first milk (colostrum) of the cow, as this is neces- 

 sary for properly clearing the bowels and starting the digest- 

 ive functions. (355) Warm full milk is fed from the pail not 

 less than three times daily until the calf is two or three weeks 

 old, after which skim milk is gradually substituted. From one 

 to two weeks should pass in changing from full milk to skim 

 milk. Oil meal converted to jelly by adding boiling water is 

 relished by young calves, which soon learn to look for it at 

 the bottom of the pail. At first a tablespoonful of oil meal is 

 sufficient for a fed. This may be increased gradually, as the calf 

 grows, to half a pound per day. Curtiss has shown that corn 

 meal is an excellent and cheap addition to milk for calvesj oats, 

 shorts or other grain feeds may also be used. 

 i The supply of full milk for the calf should be not over 10 

 pounds at first, and end with 15 pounds daily. The skim milk 



