772 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



ing old cows past their prime till they can only be sold to the 

 bologna-sausage makers for about two cents a pound. They 

 form quite a per cent of the stock offered for sale in our cities, 

 and are regularly quoted in the daily markets. These same 

 cows, a few years before, with proper management would have 

 made good beef, and could have been sold at a profit, but were 

 kept at a loss and finally sold at half price. 



Raising Calves. If we expect an animal that will be 

 thrifty and well-developed, and that we can expect with cer- 

 tainity to give good returns for food and care, the first year is 

 the most important, for upon the care it gets at this period de- 

 pends the future profit. I have seen many intelligent farmers 

 whose judgment on most subjects I should value highly, who 

 had been brought up with the idea that to starve and freeze a 

 young animal made it tough and hardy, and no experience or 

 argument could get this out of their heads. There are two ex- 

 tremes to be avoided in feeding calves ; one is feeding too lit- 

 tle or too poor food, and the other too much or too rich. 



There is no way in which a more perfectly developed animal 

 can be had than by allowing the calf to suck the mother and 

 have access to good pasture, but as a general rule this is consid- 

 ered too expensive, and the majority of calves are raised by 

 hand. I have also found that calves allowed to run with the cow 

 give great trouble by sucking the cows after you wish to wean 

 them, and a calf that has run with its dam through the summer 

 can not be wintered in the same yard with its mother. 



That a thrifty, well-developed calf can be raised on skimmed 

 milk, I have proved over and over in my own experience on the 

 farm, and if all the milk could be had for the purpose, and I 

 could get the calves, I could raise well five calves in a season 

 from two good cows ; and while they would not be as smooth 

 and well-developed at weaning time as those which had sucked 

 the cow, I should expect them to be as valuable at a year old. 

 There would, of course, be care and labor connected with this 

 plan, but we get all the butter, and can raise five calves instead 

 of two, it will be seen that the labor is well paid for. 



Perhaps the question arises, where can we get the calves ? 



