28 KEEPING ONE COW. 



TEACHING THE CALF TO DRINK. 



It is a very easy matter to teach a calf to drink milk, when one 

 has seen the thing done. Next morning this calf was impatient 

 for her mess of warm milk, so, after milking her dam, I took a 

 shallow pan, and putting two quarts of milk into it proceeded to 

 give the first lesson in a calf's life, of doing without a mother. 

 The process is very simple ; you merely wet the first and second 

 lingers of the left hand with milk, and place them in the calf's 

 mouth, to give her a taste of what is in store. Repeat this a few 

 times, then gradually draw the pan near her mouth with the right 

 hand, using your left as above. When the calf permits your two 

 fingers to enter her mouth, raise the pan so that your left hand 

 will be immersed, and the calf, by suction, will draw the milk up 

 between the fingers. At mid-day, another mess of milk, and a 

 second lesson was given; at evening a third. Next morning the 

 process was repeated, but in this instance she did not need the 

 fingers to guide her to what was good for her ; she readily accepted 

 the situation, and stuck her pretty nose into the warm milk, which 

 rapidly disappeared to where it would do the most good. But 

 with milk worth ten cents per quart, and cream seven times as 

 much, it did not " pay " to use six quarts daily of rich Jersey milk 

 in this way, so, after a fortnight's supply of the raw material, 

 the feed was gradually changed to sweet skim-milk for two weeks, 

 and then substituting hay-tea, the milk ration was cut down to 

 two quarts daily. Beginning with a tablespoonful of cotton-seed 

 meal, thoroughly mixed with the feed, the quantity was increased 

 in ten days to one pint daily. At one month old, she was gradually 

 taught to eat bran by stirring it into her food. 



The preparation of hay-tea is very simple. Nice hay is run 

 through a cutter, and taking an ordinary two-gallon pailful, boil- 

 ing water is poured upon it ; it is then covered and allowed to 

 steep for twelve hours. This makes a most excellent food, and 

 calves thrive upon it. The most stylish and vigorous calf I ever 

 saw, was raised upon hay-tea, with bran and cotton-seed meal as 

 here described. I enter thus fully into the best manner of raising 

 a calf without its mother, for the especial benefit of my southern 

 readers, where the thriftless habit of allowing the calf to suck its 

 dam, oftentimes until a year old, so generally prevails. In this 

 instance the little heifer got along nicely until two months old, 

 when an aggravated attack of scours set in, but by timely doses of 

 laudanum in a mess of warm gruel, poured down her throat twice 

 a day, for three days, a cure was effected. In ordinary cases of 



