Calf Bearing. 841 



When used, whey should be fed in not too large quantity and 

 amends made for the abstracted constituents by the addition of 

 oil meal, ground oats, etc. Care should be taken to feed the 

 whey while as nearly sweet as possible, and all vessels holding it 

 should be scalded daily so as to be free from a sour taint. While 

 none too good in itself, any nutritive qualities whey may possess 

 are rendered of still less worth by allowing it to ferment or by 

 feeding in dirty vessels. (359) 



529. Hay tea. Stewart 1 gives the following experience with a 

 hay -tea ration for calves: "This old expedient to rear calves 

 without milk had an excellent basis, as do most common prac- 

 tices. The soluble nutritive constituents of the hay are extracted 

 by boiling, (53) and this extract contains all the food elements 

 required to grow the animal, besides being as digestible as milk. 

 If the hay is cut early, when it has most soluble matter, and is 

 of good quality, the tea will grow good calves, but this extract 

 frequently has too small a proportion of albuminous and fatty 

 matter. Yet, if the hay tea is boiled down so as not to contain too 

 much water for the dry substance, calves will usually thrive upon 

 it. We tried an experiment by feeding two gallons of hay tea, in 

 which one-fourth of a pound of flax seed and one-fourth of a pound 

 of wheat middlings had been boiled, to each of five calves thirty 

 days old. This experiment was continued sixty days, with a 

 gradual increase, during the last thirty days, of the middlings to 

 one pound per day. These calves did remarkably well, gaining 

 an average of a little over two pounds per head per day." 



530. Feed and care after weaning. With calves properly bred 

 for the intended purpose thrifty, fat and sleek- coated if de- 

 signed for beef production, and in fair flesh, with a bright eye, 

 if intended for dairying the foundation of a good herd is laid. 

 The stockman should always bear in mind that gains are never 

 so cheaply made, so far as feed is concerned, as with the young 

 animal, and for this reason, if no other, it should be pushed ahead 

 as rapidly as is consistent with the end in view. 



The table of feeding stuffs (349) shows that milk contains a large 

 proportion of protein for muscle-making as well as ash for building 

 1 Feeding Animals, p. 246. 



