962 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



but excepting in those districts where the fatting of calves is an object of importance, it is probably the most 

 advantageous time ; as the calves, having all the grass season before them, become sufficiently strong for 

 enduring the change to a less agreeable food in the ensuing winter. A calf newly weaned seldom thrives 

 well during that period, unless it is pampered with better food than usually falls to the share of young 

 animals. By midsummer the cows are readier to take the bull than at any other season, and will bring 

 calves in proper time. If a cow goes till after May before she calves, the calf will be too weak the winter 

 following J the dam will not be so ready to take the bull again, but will often grow barren. 



SuBSECT. 4. Of Reanng Horned Cattle. 



6152. The mode of rearing calves is various. There can be little doubt but that the 

 best and most natural mode is that of allowing them to suck their dams, at least for 

 some length of time after they are brought forth. The usual method in Yorkshire, and 

 most parts of Scotland, is that of giving them milk to drink, there being few instances 

 where they are allowed to suck. For the first two or three weeks they mostly get milk 

 warm from the cow; but for the next two or three weeks, half the new-milk is with- 

 drawn, and skimmed milk substituted in its stead : and at the end of that period, the 

 new -milk is wholly withdrawn ; they are then fed on skimmed milk alone, or sometimes 

 mixed with water, till they are able to support themselves by eating grass, or other food 

 of that sort. 



6153. In Cheshire, the practice is to allow the. calves to suck for the first three weeks. They are then 

 fed on warm new whey, or scalded whey and butter-milk mixed j with the green whey, water is fre- 

 quently mixed, and either oat-meal, or wheat and bean flour added. A quart of meal or flour is thought 

 sufficient to mix with forty or fifty quarts of hquid. Oat-meal gruel and butter-milk, with an addition of 

 skimmed milk, are also used for the same purpose. Some one of these prepared kinds of food is given 

 night and morning for a few weeks after the calves are put on that diet, but afterwards only once a-day, 

 till they are three months old or more. 



6154. The calves in Gloucestershire are not allowed to suck above two or three days; they are then fed 

 on skimmed milk, which is previously heated over the fire. When they arrive at such an age as to be 

 able to eat a little, they are allowed split beans or oats, and cut hay, and water is mixed with the milk. 



6155. In Sussex it is common to allow the calves, either to suck for ten or twelve weeks, or to wean 

 them at the end of three or four, and to give them a liberal allowance of skimmed milk for six or eight 

 weeks longer. 



6156. In Middlesex the methods pursued for rearing calves, are either by giving them a pailful, con- 

 taining about a gallon, of milk, warm from the teat of the cow, morning and evening, for eight or ten 

 weeks ; or, which is certainly the most agreeable to nature, and, therefore, to be preferred to any other 

 that can be adopted, to allow the calf to suck its dam, as is sometimes done in the county of Sussex, and 

 generally in Wigtonshire. 



6157. According to Marshal the best method is this : The calves suck a week or a fortnight, according 

 to their strength (a good rule) ; new milk in the pail, a few meals ; next, new milk and skim-milk mixed, 

 a few meals more : then, skim-milk alone; or porridge, made with milk, water, ground oats, &c., and 

 sometimes oil-cake, until cheese-making commence ; after which, whey porridge, or sweet whey, in the 

 field ; being careful to house them in the night, until warm weather be confirmed. {Midland Counties, 

 vol. i. p.338.) This method of suckhng is not, however, free from objection, and, in the ordinary prac- 

 tice of rearing calves, it is held to be a preferable plan to begin at once to learn them to drink from a 

 pail. The calf that is fed from the teat must depend upon the milk of its dam, however scanty or irre- 

 gular it may be ; whereas, when fed from a dish, the quantity can be regulated according to its age ; and 

 various substitutes may be resorted to, by which a great part of the milk is saved for other purposes, or a 

 greater number of calves reared upon the same quantity. {General Report of Scotland, vol. iii. p. 51.) 

 Yet it would seem to be a good practice to allow calves to suck for a few days at first, if there was no incon- 

 venience to be apprehended both to themselves and their dams, from the separation afterwards. 



6158. When fed from the pail, the average allowance to a calf is about two English wine gallons of milk 

 daily, for twelve or thirteen weeks ; at first fresh milk as it is drawn from the cow, and afterwards skim- 

 milk. But after it is three or four weeks old, a great variety of substitutes for milk are used in different 

 places, of which linseed oil-cake, meal, and turnips, are the most common. 



6159. Where calves are reared with skim-milk, it should be boiled, and suffered to stand until it cools 

 to the temperature of that first given by the cow, or a trifling degree more warm, and in that state be given 

 to the calf Milk is frequently given to calves warm only ; but that method will not succeed so well 

 as boiling it. If the milk be given over-cold, it will cause the calf to skit or purge. "When this is the 

 case, put two or three spoonfuls of rennet in the milk, and it will soon stop the looseness. If, on the con 

 trary, the calf is bound, bacon-broth is a very good and safe thing to put into the milk. One gallon of 

 milk per day will keep a calf well till it be thirteen weeks old. A calf may then be supported without 

 milk, by giving it hay, and a httle wheat-bran, once a-day, with about a pint of oats. The oats will be 

 found of great service as soon as the calf is capable of eating them. The bran and oats should be given 

 about mid-day: the milk in portions, at eight o'clock in the morning, and four in the afternoon. But 

 whatever hours are chosen to set apart for feeding the calf, it is best to adhere to the particular times, as 

 regularity is of more consequence than many people think. If the calf goes but an hour or two beyond 

 his usual time of fecJing, he will find himself uneasy, and pine for food. It is always to be understood, 

 that calves reared in this manner are to be enticed to eat hay as early as possible ; and the best way 

 of doing this is to give them the sweetest hay that can be got, and but little at a time. Turnips or 

 potatoes are very good food, as soon as they can eat them ; and they are best cut small, and mixed with 

 the hay, oats, bran, and such articles. It may be observed, that it is not absolutely necessary to give milk 

 to calves alter they are one month old ; and to wean them gradually, two quarts of milk, with the addition 

 of linseed boiled in water to make a gruel, and given together, will answer the purpose, until, by dimin- 

 ishing the milk gradually, the calf will soon do entirely without. Hay-tea will answer the purpose, with 

 the like addition of two quarts of milk ; but is not so nutritious as linseed. It is a good method of 

 making this, to put such a proportion of hay as will be necessary into a tub, then to pour on a sufficient 

 quantity of boiling water, covering up the vessel, and letting the water remain long enough to extract the 

 virtues of the hay. When bacon or pork is boiled, it is a good way to preserve the liquor or broth, and 

 mix it with milk for the calves. 



6160. In summer, calves may sometimes be reared on whey only ; but when reared in winter, they 

 must be fed with hay ; and clover-hay is probably the best of any for this use. Calves may also be raised 

 with porridge of different kinds, without any mixture of milk. It is sometimes a good and convenient 

 plan, the author of the 'Sew Farmer's Calendar says, to bring up calves under a step-mother ; an old cow, 

 with a tolerable stock of milk, will suckle two calves, or more, either turned oft' with her, or at home, 

 keeping them in good condition, until they are old enough to shift : they ought to suck the first of their 

 mother's milk, for two or three day.-:, although many are weaned without ever being suffered to suck at 

 all. Calves, whether rearuig or fattening, should also always suck before milking, the cow being milked 



