CALF FEEDING 



219 



fat in whole milk. With butter fat at 25 cents per pound, 100 

 pounds of grain (worth $1.00 to $1.50) will take the place of 

 $12.50 worth of butter fat, and at 30 cents for butter fat it will 

 take the place of $15 worth of butter fat. Feeding whole milk or 

 poorly-skimmed milk to calves is, therefore, generally speaking, a 

 very expensive and wasteful method, since skim milk with only 

 a slight fat content, fed with grain feed, will produce almost as 

 good results. 



Skim Milk. The value of skim milk and other dairy by- 

 products for calf feeding has already been considered (p. 207). 

 After the second or third week skim milk may gradually take the 

 place of whole milk, the proportion of the latter being slowly de- 

 creased and that of skim milk increased until after a week or ten 

 days the calf will be getting only skim milk. This is fed warm and 



FIG. 42. Calves in stanchions in pasture. ("Productive Farming," Davis.) 



sweet, and is most conveniently fed fresh from the separator. The 

 foam of separator skim milk should always be skimmed off before 

 feeding the milk to calves, as it tends to cause digestive troubles 

 and bloating; colic and scouring resulting in death may follow in 

 aggravated cases, if this precaution is neglected. A calf may be 

 fed from 10 to 12 pounds of skim milk daily in three feeds until 

 about six weeks old, when the amount may be increased to 16 

 pounds or more, if he can handle it without scouring, and this is 

 given in two feeds, one-half at each meal. 



It requires constant care and watchfulness to raise a skim- 

 milk calf or one fed other dairy by-products; all sudden changes 

 and irregularities in feeding must be avoided, as well as a too 

 liberal allowance of milk (Figs. 41 and 42). Overfeeding or in- 

 judicious feeding is a frequent cause of calf scours, and when this 

 occurs the feed or milk must be reduced or withheld for a time, 

 and special treatment resorted to. 



