48 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



purchasing cows in market. Calves can ])e raised without 

 milk after the first two weeks ; and, with close attention and 

 good judgment, very little milk is absolutely necessary after 

 the first week. The above-named grain feeds must be the 

 main dependence. For the first few weeks they must be fed 

 in the form of porridge, but it is surprising how quickly a 

 young thing will learn to eat these feeds dry. When they 

 have accomplished that, the field is won. 



A leaf from the experience of Hon. Thomas P. Root, a 

 Barre milk farmer, may be of value as an illustration. In 

 the summer of 1886 I saw in his barn fifteen heifer calves 

 growing finely, while he was sending all his milk to Boston 

 daily. In reply to my inquiry, "How do you do it?" he 

 said: "I teach them to drink with new milk. As soon as 

 they begin to drink, I sprinkle a little old-process oil meal 

 into the milk, in order to have them acquire a taste for it. 

 As soon as they have learned to love it, which will be in a 

 very few days, they will drink almost anything that has the 

 taste of oil meal. For a regular diet for the calf after it has 

 passed that point, I take one part of oats and one of wheat 

 bran by weight, have them ground together, then add one 

 part oil meal, mix well together, and cook by putting it into 

 cold or lukewarm water and stirring as it is heating, to pre- 

 vent lumping. I watch the condition of the bowels, as the 

 danger in raising calves without milk is almost entirely in 

 this direction. Careful variation of the amount of feed will 

 almost always control this trouble." These fifteen calves 

 were shown at the fair of the Worcester County West 

 Agricultural Society in 1886, and again in 1887 as yearlings. 

 They were a fine lot in 1886, and in 1887 were remarkably 

 good, and as even a lot as I ever saw together. They were 

 all added to Mr. Root's herd of milkers at two and a half to 

 three years of age. He assured me that nearly every one 

 proved a fine milker, and that the experiment was eminently 

 satisfactory and profitable. He knew them and they knew 

 him, and they were at home when they began their life work. 

 The owner was saved the disappointments that always come 

 with a lot of purchased cows, and the young cows escaped the 

 excitement, nervous strain and other evil eflTects that come 

 with change of owner and home and the exposure in going 



