USE OF SKIMMED MILK IN CALVES. 563 



The precise chemical relation between new milk and skim- 

 med milk has hardly been ascertained, but the amount of nu- 

 triment contained in a pound of linseed, substituted by Mr 

 Bowick after three weeks for one-half of the full allowance of 

 new milk, may be thus deduced : 



Linseed, 5 Ib. for five calves. Linseed per cent 18.8 flesh- 

 formers, 25.5 heat-givers, 4.63 ash. 



oz. oz. 



Flesh-formers, . . 100 : 18.8 : : 80 : 15 



Heat-givers, . 100 : 25.5 : : 80 : 20.4 



Mineral matter or ash, . 100 : 4.63 : : 80 : 3.7 



The quantities thus obtained, being divided by five, give the 

 allowance of each calf over and above a half ration of new milk : 



= 3 flesh-formers ; -- = 4 heat-givers ; - 1 = 0.7 mineral matters, 

 o o 5 



We quote two passages more from Mr Bowick's prize 

 essay. " As spring advances, the supply of roots to the calves 

 will necessarily be greater, according to their increasing age 

 and ability to masticate. But it is nowise desirable or econo- 

 mical to send them out to grass early in the season. . . . And 

 you will do well to begin by giving them only a few hours 

 afield during the day, bringing them in again at night to their 

 pound of cake, with a bit of hay chaff (chopped hay) for the 

 older ones, and the mess of skim-milk and linseed-gruel for the 

 younger stock/'* 



When calves after three months are allowed to take their will 

 of good pasture, there is not much risk of their failing to 

 thrive ; and when such pasture is not accessible, there is no 

 better rule than to watch the effect of what food they get^ and 

 regulate accordingly. Major M'Clintock says in his paper, " It 

 is very difficult to lay down an exact rule for feeding calves, as 

 far as quantity is concerned ; nor can a time be fixed for wean- 



* * English Journal of Agriculture,' vol. xxii. p. 144. 



