REARLN'G OF CALVES. 547 



to run about with her tor twelve months. Calves, however^ 

 are apt to bruise the udder and teats, by butting against 

 them with their head while sucking. To obviate this, they 

 are prevented from sucking by means of a small piece of 

 leather, with little sharp iron spikes upon its outer surface, 

 and attached to the snout of the calf in such a manner as 

 to permit it to feed upon grass, while it will prick the 

 udder of its dam, and she will therefore not permit the calf 

 to suck her. The cow is only milked twice a day, and it is 

 at those times that the calf is permitted to suck the teats 

 of one side, while the milkmaid strips those of the opposite 

 side ; and when she has completed the milking, the muzzle 

 is again replaced. 



In the great Yorkshire dairies, calves are hardly ever per- 

 mitted suck ; they generally drink the new warm milk from 

 a pail. This is continued for two or three weeks, and for 

 the next three weeks they are fed upon half new and half 

 skimmed-milk. After this, upon skim-milk alone, and even 

 sometimes mixed with water, and ultimately with the addi- 

 tion of a little oatmeal-porridge, until they are able to feed 

 entirely upon grass. 



The practice in Cheshire is to allow the calf to suck its 

 dam for the first three weeks, and it is afterwards fed upon 

 warm whey or buttermilk, to which water is sometimes added, 

 with the addition of oatmeal or flour. To every forty or 

 fifty quarts of liquid, one quart of meal or flour is con- 

 sidered sufficient. On this they are fed night and morning 

 for some weeks, and then it is only given to them once a 

 day, until they are three or four months old, when they are 

 considered able to live entirely upon vegetable food. 



In Gloucestershire, calves are only permitted to suck 

 about two or three days, after which they are fed with 

 skimmed-milk warmed. When they are able to masticate 



