Ch. XXXVIII.] ON CALVES. 443 



the flour being boiled during half an hour in twelve quarts of water ; of 

 which one quart is to be given, lukewarm, to each calf, morning and 

 evening. In ten days a bundle of soft hay is placed in the stable, which 

 they will soon begin to eat, and a little of the flour is put into a small 

 trough for them occasionally to lick. Tliey are thus fed during about two 

 months, gradually increasing the quantity ; and it is said that half a bushel 

 of the corn is sufficient until the calf is entirely turned to grass, to which 

 he is occasionally turned out during the day. 



AVhen the object of the farmer is to rear more calves for stock than he 

 has cows, this has also been successfully practised by purchasin^r a stranger 

 calf, and putting it along with her own to the same cow, both being put to 

 suck, one at each side, exactly at the same time, and leaving them there 

 for fifteen or twenty minutes, by which time the milk will be drawn away. The 

 cow at first shows great dislike to the stranger, but in a few days receives it 

 very quietly. They are thus kept in the house, and as they advance in age, 

 they eat porridge, hay, sliced potatoes, or any food that is usually given 

 to them, and in about three months they are finally turned out to grass ; 

 after which a couple of strangers are purchased, and the same plan pursued 

 with them during three months longer. At the expiration of that period — 

 supposing the cow to have calved in the month of January, or the early ])art 

 of February — the first week in August will have arrived, and this set being 

 then ready for weaning, a single talf is put into the feeding pen and fattened 

 for the butcher: by which means the cow will have suckled five calves*. 

 Mr. Lambert also says, in his " Observations on the Rural Affairs of Ireland," 

 that it is not a bad plan for those who keep many dairy cows, when 

 there is an indifferent milker, to put two calves on such, and turn them 

 out to grass along with her ; as the calves will extract more milk, and 

 a cow that has but little milk being of a quality rich in proportion, will 

 afford quite sufficient for two calves, when accustomed to the strange one 

 for a week or ten days before being turned loose. The plan would pro- 

 bably answer the purpose at first, but we should imagine that it must stint 

 the future growth of calves. 



These different modes are all more or less productive of economy in the 

 expenditure of milk, and, in most cases, have been found to forward the 

 proper growth of the calf : much, however, depends on the regularity of 

 feeding. The common practice is to give the food only twice a-dav, 

 morning and evening, and then to allow as much as will satiate the appetite ; 

 thus filling the stomach with such a quantity as must in some degree im- 

 pede the digestion. Now, in every case, the closer we adhere to nature, 

 the better will the animal thrive, and if allowed to remain with the cow, the 

 calf will be seen to suck her frequently ; he should, therefore, be fed at least 

 three times a-day, at regular periods, by which means, and being allowed 

 room for exercise, he will be greatly improved in health and condition : it 

 being, however, understood that he is not then intended to be fattened. 

 Care also should be taken not to change his food too suddenly ; for, although 

 the imperative calls of appetite compel him to forego that which is most 

 natural to him, yet, having been once taught to adopt a substitute, he 

 obtains a relish for it, and will not so readily accommodate himself to any 

 other: which especially teaches the propriety of weaning him very graduallyf. 



Whatever may be the process employed, it must partly depend on the 

 state of the season when the calf is dropped, and in the case of being weaned 



* See Youatt's Cattle, p. 170. 



I See the complete Grazier, 6th edit. chap. vi. 



