FARMERS' REGISTER— TREATMENT OF CALVES. 



271 



experienced breeders prefer the earliest. They 

 are permitted to suck as much as they like, three 

 times a day for the first week, after which they 

 are siiclded by hand, and fed with warm new milk 

 for three weeks longer. They are then fed, dar- 

 ing the two following montlis, twice a day, with 

 as much warm skim milk as they can drink — in 

 which some feeders mix a small portion of finely 

 pounded linseed-cake, or meal; after which the 

 meals of milk are gradually abated, and at the 

 end of four months they are wholly weaned fi'om 

 milk, and left to themselves at pasture. 



In the northern counties of England, it is a 

 common practice to^ivo the calves equal parts of 

 milk and sweet whey, made lukevv'arm; but, as 

 this mode often produces scouring, or looseness, 

 we think the following method, Avhich was a isw 

 years since communicated to the public by a 

 spirited and experienced breeder, is greatly prefer- 

 able. For the first four or five v\^eeks he fed them 

 regularly, but oftener than is usually done, with 

 new and skimmed milk; at the end of ^vhich time 

 his calves were gradually taught to drink strong 

 water gruel, consisting of equal parts of bean or 

 oat-meal, mixed with one-half of buttermilk, and 

 carefully nnxed with the gruel after the latter is 

 venioved from the fire. This method of treatment 

 he is stated to have pursued with great success for 

 many years; his cah'es being strong and healthy, 

 while every thing that could tend to retard their 

 growth was effectually prevented. 



In the county of Norfolk, calves are fed witli 

 skimmed milk, in which is mixed a little wheatea 

 flour; they have also chopped turnips in a trough, 

 and some hay in a low rack. As soon as these 

 animals learn to eat turnips freelj', they are no 

 longer supplied with milk, those roots, witli the 

 addition of a little hay, furnishing them both with 

 food and drink. The period of raising calves in 

 the above mentioned county is from Michaelmas 

 to Candlemas; but the time of feeding them wliol- 

 ly with turnips varies, according to circumstances 

 or accident. Where there are older calves that 

 have been accustomed to these roots, the younger 

 ones soon acquire the method of breaking and eat- 

 ing them, by picking np tiie fragments left by the 

 former. 



Towards the month of March, those which are 

 first reared, arc turned out among the fattening 

 bullocks during the day, and are sheltered in the 

 night; though, if tlie weather prove favorable, 

 they are in a ihw days turned out altogether. In 

 Ihe succeeding summer they are kept in clover, or 

 other luxuriant grasses, and tlie following autumn, 

 are sufficiently strong to stand in the straw or fold- 

 yard. This circumstance is considered as a chief 

 advantage to be derived from rearing calves early 

 in the season; as those Avliich are raised during 

 the spring require two years' nursing. 



The subsequent method of raising calves by 

 Mr. William Budd, of Boston, in America, whicli 

 obtained the prize from the Agricultural Society of 

 Massachusetts, we give in his own language, ex- 

 tracted from his comn)unication to that Society. 



"Take the calves, wlien three days old, from 

 the cows, and put them into a stable by them- 

 selves; feed them with gruel, composed of one- 

 third barley, two-thirds oats, ground together very 

 fine, sifting the mixture. Each calf is to receive 

 a quart of gruel morning and evening, and to be 

 made in the Ibllowing manner: to one quart of the 



flour add twelve of water, boil the mixture half an 

 hour, let it stand until milk-warm. In ten days, 

 tie up a bundle of soft hay in the middle of the 

 stable, whicli they will eat by degrees. A little of 

 the flour, put into a small trougli, for them occa- 

 sionally to lick, is of service. Feed them thus till 

 they are two months' old, increasing the quantity. 

 Three bushels of the above mixture will raise six 

 calves." 



Mr. Clift, of the New York Agricultural Soci- 

 ety, takts the calf from the cow at two or three 

 days' old; he then milks the cow, and while the 

 milk is warm, teaches the animal to drink by 

 holding his head down into the pail; if the calf 

 v.'ill not drink, he puts his hand into the milk, and 

 a finger into the mouth, till the beast learns to 

 drink without the finger. After he has been fed 

 with new milk for a fortnight, the cream is taken 

 of} the milk, with which an equal or larger portion 

 of thin flax-seed jelly is mixed, and the whole is 

 given milk-v\"arm. Thus, as the spring is the most 

 favorable season for making butter, he is enabled, 

 during the six or seven weeks the animals are kept 

 previously to weaning, to make as much butter as 

 tliey are worth; a practice which merits the atten- 

 tion of our English larmere, to whom it will afford 

 a very essential saving, panicularly in tiiose coun- 

 ties where butter forms a chief article of ma,nufac- 

 ture. 



In the rearing of calves, much, however, de- 

 pends on the regularity of feeding them; the com- 

 mon practice is, to supply them with food twice in 

 the da)', in the morning and at evening, when 

 they generally receive as large a quantity as their 

 craving appetites can take. Hence the digestive 

 organs are necessarily impaired, and numerous 

 animals either become tainted with disease, or 

 perish from the inattention of their keepers; whereas, 

 by feeding them thrice in the day, at equidistant 

 intervals, and allowing suflicient room for exercise, 

 (when they are not intended to be fattened,) they 

 will not only be [)rcserved in health, but they will 

 also greatly improve in coi'.dition. 



Whatever food be allowed to young calves, care 

 sliould also be taken not to change it too suddenly. 

 A calf must have attained a certain degree of 

 strength before it can dispense with the food most 

 natural to its age and thrive without the aid of 

 milk; it should alu-ays therefore be allowed as long 

 as possible; but even when that has been with- 

 drawn, and the animal has begun to eat grass, still 

 the substitutes that had been employed in lieu of 

 milk shoukl be partly continued until his appetite 

 prefer the ]-)asiure. It is a common notion that 

 provided young stock acquire size, their condition 

 is immaterial; and, after the first winter, they are 

 generally turned into the toughest pasture, and 

 kept during the following Avinter on straw with, 

 perhaps, a little indiflerent hay. This, when they 

 are intended to be sold to the fatting grazier, may 

 be the most profitable mode, and, in some situa- 

 tions, it is the only one that can be adopted; but 

 when they arc meant to be reared, for the breed, it 

 is absolutely requisite, as the only means of brino;- 

 ing them to perfect maturity, and improving their 

 qualities, that they should be kept on good pasture 

 during the summer, ;uid allowed roots with some 

 sound hay in tlie winter, and green food in the 

 spring: a contrary mode, though the most econom- 

 ical, is decidedly disadvantageous; for the worst 

 breed will uilimalely be injprovedby good feeding. 



