VEAL PRODUCTION 149 



Pood. The food used in the production of veal 

 should be capable of giving a nice, whitish coloured 

 flesh ; and no more suitable food has been found than 

 milk, the only drawback being that it is an expensive 

 food, especially where there is a demand for it for 

 human consumption. When eggs are cheap, a raw 

 egg is sometimes switched in the milk ; these are also 

 fairly expensive for this purpose. It is therefore 

 quite natural from an economic point of view that 

 milk or cream substitutes, such as linseed jelly, ground 

 linseed cake made into a gruel, or cod-liver oil, should 

 be used ; but the difficulty is, that when used most of 

 these are apt to darken the colour, or otherwise 

 diminish the value of the veal. The old practice of 

 frequently bleeding the calves to whiten the flesh is 

 now discontinued, and most folks consider that the 

 lump of chalk which is sometimes placed in the manger 

 is more for the purpose of correcting acidity in the calf s 

 stomach, than for whitening the flesh. After the calf 

 gets two or three months old, the flesh gradually loses 

 in colour, and it is not advisable to keep calves longer 

 than this for veal ; in fact, seeing that the best veal is 

 produced by milk, and that milk is an expensive food, it 

 is imperative, from a business standpoint, to veal calves 

 as rapidly as possible. A little buttermilk may be used 

 to advantage, as will be pointed out later on. 



The Art of Feeding. Great care has to be 

 exercised in the hand-feeding of calves during the first 

 few days of their lives ; the same thing also applies to 

 calves which have been bought in. In the first place, 

 the milk should always be given direct from the cow, 

 as it contains the animal heat, and has not undergone 

 any changes in composition. A calf often drinks more 

 than is good for it during the first day or two, if given 



