ii2 My Little Farm 



as possible at the same temperature, for some time 

 after birth, until the young creature has grown to 

 store larger quantities against longer periods, and 

 to develop the required heat from them on his own 

 account. It follows that the same necessity must 

 be observed in housing and bedding. I have a 

 large vessel to hold all the milk, with a little fire 

 under it to keep blood heat ; a measure stick 

 figured by the inch to tell the total yield at every 

 milking, and a lactometer to drop in for the detec- 

 tion of fraud by watering. I once had people who 

 gathered as many as they could of their relatives 

 and friends into the cow-house at milking time, 

 and the calves looked starved, but they began to 

 thrive again at once when I scattered the camp. 

 Calves will not cud at the same age, but from 

 the time they are old enough to do so, something 

 suitable, such as old meadow hay of good quality, 

 ought to be kept within their reach. They may 

 be trusted to find what suits them among it, and 

 unless they can find that, they will probably 

 attack something very unsuitable, maybe, their 

 bed or worse. Fed three times a day up to cud- 

 ding, with the right quantities and conditions of 

 milk only, I have never known a calf to develop 

 that diseased taste for rubbish which kills so many ; 

 but it is as certain that, if starved, or if fed only 

 twice a day in quantities too large and at tem- 

 peratures far below their own, they will often 

 show a deranged state of stomach, either taking 

 months to recover from it or ending in death. 

 Knowing the results, but ignoring the causes, 



