156 THE STOCKFEEDER'S COMPANION 



heat when fed to the calf, otherwise the hair round its 

 nose will come off. If boiling water is difficult to get, 

 cold water may be used, as long as the gruel can be left 

 for twelve hours. In this case it is necessary to warm 

 the gruel before feeding. 



The gradual substitution of whole milk by gruel 

 may commence at the end of the second week ; but if 

 the whole milk is not urgently required, the calf will be 

 all the better to get whole milk for the first four weeks. 

 In about a fortnight's time the whole milk would be 

 all substituted with separated milk and gruel. 



Second month. During the second month the calf 

 meal gruel would be continued and gradually increased 

 in quantity up to. say, \ or J Ib. per head per day along 

 with \\ to 2 galls, separated milk. After a meal the 

 calf may be tempted to suck at a little linseed cake or 

 bran and oats until it will eat them out of a trough. In 

 this way calves can be taken out of the sucking habit, 

 and at the same time eat something which will do them 

 good. It is wonderful how keen calves become after 

 bran and oats. 



It is important to know how to regulate the 

 laxativity of a calf's diet. This is not difficult if one 

 remembers that skim milk, separated milk, butter- 

 milk, and fine middlings (seconds) have generally a 

 binding tendency, while useful laxatives are linseed 

 meal, ground linseed cake, whey, roots, and grass. 



Third month. The calf will no doubt have shown 

 some inclination to eat a little nice, sweet hay, and it 

 should now have the opportunity of eating some in 

 order to develop its first stomach (paunch), which is 

 as yet comparatively small. The gruel may now be 

 withheld at mid-day, and replaced by a small feed of 

 equal parts of " nutted " linseed cake, bran and ground 



