CAITLE. 377 



calf is generMllj removed at once to a shed by itself, and rubbed 

 dry, without allowing the cow even to see it; and if the ud'ler 

 is right, this is, perhaps, the better way. As soon as it is able 

 to stand, it is supplied with the warm milk drawn directly from 

 the cow. This it should have, in all cases, as its first food, since 

 it contains certain medicinal properties admirably calculated to 

 free the bowels and intestines from mucus and excrementitious 

 matter. It should have the milk of the cow, m this way, three 

 or four times a day, for a week or ten days at the least, what- 

 ever course it is designed to adopt after that. The milk during 

 this period of time possesses, as we have said, certain qualities 

 which are necessary to the calf, and which cannot be efi'ectually 

 supplied by any other food. 



In the third or fourth week, the milk for the calf may be 

 skimmed, but warmed to the degree of fresh-drawn milk ; 

 though, after that, less care is required to warm it and to give 

 it the milk of its own mother, that of other cows now answer- 

 ing equally well. 



If in spring, the calf at the age of six to eight weeks may ue 

 tethered out upon the green grass, or put into a small enclosure 

 near the house, and still fed twice or, better, three times a day, 

 upon skimmed milk, with a mixture of half hay tea or gruel. 

 If in winter, a wisp of clover, or other sweet hay, should be 

 hung up over its pen within easy reach. This will soon lead 

 the young aninjal to begin to eat solid food. The careful Dutch 

 dairymen prefer not to turn their calves into grass till the age 

 of ten or twelve weeks, and then even continue the skim milk 

 or buttermilk several times a day. If the weather is chilly, 

 they take care to warm the milk. 



The most important thing to be borne in mind, in the raising 

 of calves, is neither to starve nor to overfeed. A calf should 

 never be surfeited, nor fed so highly that it cannot be fed more 



