FEED AND CARE OF YOUNG FARM ANIMALS 247 



it can consume, but somcdmes the calf gets too much in this 

 way, which brings about indigestion. In such cases the calf 

 should only receive a limited amount and the excess in the 

 cow's udder should be stripped twice a day. Sometimes a cow 

 giving a generous supply of milk may feed two calves in which 

 case stripping will not be necessary. 



Experiments show that a calf on mother's milk will gain 

 faster during the first month than for the following months. 

 A gain of about 2^ to 3 Ibs. a day for the first month and 

 about 2 Ibs. for the following days may be expected, Hunt 

 found that calves fed whole milk from a pail gained 1.77 Ibs. 

 daily from 8.7 Ibs. of whole milk and one pound of grain and 

 one pound of hay per pound of growth. About 6 to 10 Ibs. of 

 whole milk produces one pound of gain. 



Generally calves are allowed milk for four to six months, the 

 latter period being preferable when possible, because whole milk 

 puts on good flesh. 



After Weaning, the calf should be allowed pasture or green 

 crops in the summer, and roots or silage in the winter, to fur- 

 nish the succulence so necessary to keep the calf in a healthy 

 growing condition. At this stage grain should be furnished 

 in addition to whole milk. Oats, shelled corn, oil meal, gluten 

 feed and bran are adapted for feeding calves. Calves be- 

 come very fond of corn, but this grain should never be fed 

 alone because it contains too high a content of carbohydrates to 

 be a growing food. It may be amended with whole oats and 

 oil meal, or gluten feed, or with oats and wheat bran. Either 

 of these combinations furnish sufficient protein to balance the 

 ration. Bran and oil meal serve to regulate the digestive organs. 



After the calf is weaned the feeder must try to prevent the 

 loss of weight and endeavor to produce gain. The feeding of 

 grain while the calf is on mother's milk tends to lessen shrink- 

 age when the calf is weaned. Protein from some roughage 

 should supplement the grain. This may be furnished in winter 

 by clover, alfalfa, cowpea or other nitrogenous hay and in th^ 

 summer by good pasturage. 



