360 Effective Farming 



in acting as a purgative to rid the calf's body of unnecessary 

 matter. The milk remains abnormal for about three or four 

 days. Usually the calf is left with its mother during this 

 period. 



Teaching a calf to drink. After the calf has been removed 

 from the mother, it must be taught to drink milk from a pail. 

 It is well to have the calf hungry when about to give it a lesson. 

 In nursing, the calf's head is up and in drinking from a pail, 

 it is down. It must, therefore, be taught to drink with its 

 head down and the animal must be held. The usual plan is 

 to place a quart or so of milk in a pail, back the calf into a corner 

 of the yard or stall, straddle its neck, put your finger in its 

 mouth, and hold the head down so that the mouth is in the 

 milk. The calf will suck the finger for a time, but will soon 

 learn to drink the milk. For the first four days, the calf should 

 be fed three times a day ; after this, twice a day is often enough. 

 How much to feed varies somewhat with the weight of the 

 calf. One weighing about sixty-five pounds or less should 

 have at the start about six or eight pounds of milk a day and 

 larger calves in proportion. Care should be taken not to over- 

 feed a calf. The milk must be clean and warm. Indigestion 

 and calf scours are very likely to result if cold milk is fed. 

 A temperature 100 F. is about right. 



Kind of milk for calves. A calf should have whole milk 

 for at least ten days, after which it may be fed skim-milk. 

 The change from whole- to skim-milk should be made gradually. 

 The first day substitute a half pound of skim-milk for a half 

 pound of whole milk and keep this up for three days, then in- 

 crease a pound and a half a day until no more whole milk is 

 fed. A calf receiving skim-milk does not get enough fat in its 

 feed and to overcome the deficiency dairymen add fat to the 

 milk. Usually this fat is from linseed meal, a product rich in 

 this material. A mush is made by mixing the meal with hot 

 water. For the first day a tablespoonful is given, after which 

 the quantity is increased up to three or four tablespoonfuls. 



