8 DOUGLASS COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 



and oats in cold weather. About a month before the calves 

 are weaned, I have a pen made in the lot where the cows and 

 calves graze, with a hole in the fence large enough for the 

 calves to go through. In this pen I put troughs with corn 

 and oats. The young calf, by this means, finds its way into 

 the pen, and learns to eat grain before weaning. I give a good, 

 fresh pasture to the calves during their weaning, after which 

 they are fed from a pint to a quart of shelled corn. My 

 practice has been to put on the calf all the fat I could with 

 the aid of the milk from the cow. The calves stay on the 

 grass with their shelled corn and oats until about the first of 

 November. Then they are moved into Winter quarters, that 

 is, a yard with open sheds, having racks to which they can 

 have free access, and get a full supply of timothy hay, with 

 some corn and oats. 



At weaning I separate my calves, the bulls from the 

 heifers. Those that are castrated are cut when three weeks 

 old, and I always spay my inferior heifers. I generally turn 

 out to grass from the first to the tenth of May, preferring that 

 the grass have a good start first. The breeding cows are dried 

 off while the calves are sucking. I turn off such cows as 

 bring poor calves, putting them in a lot by themselves for feed- 

 ing, and feed them ear corn. By this plan I try to have 

 them fit for the butcher when the calves are weaned. I win- 

 ter my breeding cows in open fields, feeding hay alone on the 

 ground, selecting the dryest and highest places. When the 

 cows begin to show signs of calving, which is readily discerned 

 by the enlargement of the udder, I place them in breeding 

 yards with open sheds, and a calving house fifty by fifteen. 

 The calves remain here until they are three or four days old. 

 In bad weather I put them in a five-acre field, which adjoins 

 the stock yard. There are holes made through the fence, as 

 described, so that the calves can get around the stacks. Such 

 cows are fed hay and corn-stalks, with a small allowance of 

 corn, say from three to five ears each. In this way the cows 

 and calves both thrive well. 



I always keep plenty of salt in the field for cattle. For 



