352 THE FEEDING OF ANIMALS 



calves to secure rapid growth, especially to produce veal 

 of the highest quality, is to supply them with whole milk 

 up to the limit of their capacity when this can be done with 

 safety. Where they are to be raised for stock purposes, 

 satisfactory growth may be maintained with the use of 

 substitutes for whole milk, which is fortunate, because 

 with the exception of the western plains, where cows are 

 cheaply kept simply for breeding purposes, or where a 

 breeder is selling his increase at fancy prices, the feeding 

 of whole milk is not warranted by the value of the result- 

 ing animal. 



For this reason most dairymen, particularly those 

 who sell milk as such, kill the calves at the age of a few 

 days, excepting, perhaps, during that portion of the year 

 when veal sells at a very high price. On the other hand, 

 many dairymen who have a supply of skimmed milk 

 successfully feed this to growing calves, when it is desired 

 to raise heifers or even steers. Experience has shown 

 that it is entirely practical to do this, and it is certainly 

 economical, for experiments have demonstrated that, as 

 prices average, the cost of a pound of growth so produced 

 is at least not over one-third what it would be if whole 

 milk were fed. 



As a guide in providing a substitute for whole milk, 

 it may be stated that a vigorous calf should very early 

 be made to eat daily not less than three pounds of highly 

 digestible matter with a nutritive ratio at first not wider 

 than that of whole milk solids. The exclusive feeding of 

 skimmed milk for any length of tune is not to be recom- 

 mended. Experience shows that for young calves it 

 should be^so combined with other materials that a mix- 

 ture is obtained which, so far as possible, resembles 

 whole milk in its nutritive ratio. After the fat is removed 



