448 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch. XXXVIII. 



Cumberland, where veal is produced of very superior quality, both in size, 

 colour, and fatness : the plan there being, as stated in the Report of that 

 county : — 



To suckle the calves during the first two or three weeks in the com- 

 mon way ; after which they are fed upon the last drawn milk of 

 several cows ; the first drawn being always given to the youngest calves, 

 of which they have a regular succession ; and in this way, meat of 

 extraordinary delicacy, as well as firmness, is said to be carried to 

 market within seven or eight weeks. The calves are, however, fed 

 in sheds, kept always as nearly as possible at the same temperate 

 degree of heat, and the animal is fastened by the head with a strap 

 around it, on either side of which there is a ring running upon a 

 small stake ; so that, although prevented from licking himself, or 

 from turning round, he is not so confined as to prevent him from 

 lying- down or rising at pleasure. 

 The plan here stated, of always keeping the shed at an equal degree of 

 temperature, is certainly judicious, as greatly tending to promote the im- 

 provement, in all animals, of flesh ; and quietude also cannot be too 

 strongly recommended. Thus the calf-pens are generally separated into 

 single stalls, and boarded about four feet high; they are also darkened, 

 in order to deprive the young animals of their inclination to gambol ; 

 and, with the same intention, many of them are no larger than just to allow 

 the calf to turn round. Some, indeed, are so narrow as not to admit of 

 its turning ; and Malcolm describes one, kept in total darkness, having 

 only space enough to move a little backwards and forwards. A small hole 

 was made just large enough to admit its head ; and when the suckler comes 

 to administer the milk, the animal seeing the light, puts out its head, which 

 the suckler then puts into the pail. The dour of the pen is also made to 

 fall down, so that it becomes a platform to the tail of the cart, into which 

 the calf readily walks, and is thus secured without that difficulty which is 

 otherwise generally experienced*. Such extreme restraint may not be 

 quite necessary, though, when fattening for the butcher, it perhaps promotes 

 the object; but when calves are to be reared for stock, there can be no 

 doubt that the plan of turning them out into the open air, and only housing 

 them in the winter at night, is the more advisable. 



Extreme cleanliness, and the absence, as far as possible, of all kind of 

 damp, are also essential requisites in the construction of calf-pens: the 

 floors should therefore be raised about a foot above the earth, and either 

 closely latticed, or boarded and pierced witli holes for the escape of the 

 urine. Floors of timber being, however, much subject to rot, a more eco- 

 nomical method is that of laying them of bricks set on edge, with a narrow 

 space left open between brick and brick. Clean fresh straw, frequently 

 removed, should also be allowed as a bed. Too great attention cannot, 

 indeed, be paid to keeping the pens perfectly clean and dry ; nor can 

 too great regularity be shown in the mode of feeding. If the calf be 

 either admitted to the cow, or suckled, an hour later than usual, he 

 becomes restless as well as greedy, and thus, taking a larger quantity of 

 milk than that to which he has been accustomed, and this occasioning 

 indigestion, a mass of curd is often collected in the stomach, without 

 power of throwing it oft"; or else a looseness, or scouring, is sometimes 

 brought on, which invariably throws him back during the time it lasts, 

 which is frequently so long as to bring him to an age which renders liis 



* Compendium of Modern Husbandry, vol. i. p. 354. 



