50 



MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 164. 



I. Calves fed Whole Milk, Skim Milk and Ordinary Grains. 



The station began to rear its own dairy calves for the purpose of re- 

 plenishing the station herd as early as 1903. The method at that time 

 consisted in feeding whole milk for the first week or ten days, then grad- 

 ually substituting skim milk, until at the end of a month or six weeks 

 the whole milk was entirely removed. When the calf was a month or 

 six weeks of age a little flour wheat middhngs was stirred into the miUc, 

 and a dry grain mixture was also put before the animals. This mixture 

 usually consisted of equal parts, by weight, of wheat bran, flour middlings 

 and corn meal. As the calves grew, and took increased amoimts of dry 

 grain, the addition of middlings to the milk was omitted. The skim-milk 

 diet was usuallj'' continued until the animals were from six to seven or 

 eight months of age, the supply of skim milk at the time being liberal. 



The calves were usually dropped in the autumn and went to pasture 

 the next spring. 



The following record shows the amounts of the several feeds consumed, 

 the total food cost, the cost of food for each pound of gain, and the total 

 gain in weight : — 



Results. 



Calf. 



fe.oS5 



.£ ^ 



'a ° 



Maud, . 

 Susie, . 

 Betty, . 

 Mibbs, 

 Lena, . 

 Red III., 

 Betty II., 

 Fancy II., 

 Fancy III., 

 Amy W., 

 Average, 



164 

 143 

 160 

 264 

 200 

 169 

 138 

 112 

 180 

 110 



4,974 

 4,326 

 3,796 

 5,228 

 2,625 

 4,400 

 3,079 

 4,581 

 3,765 

 3,793 



301 



249 

 230 

 301 

 247 

 132 

 60 

 137 

 238 

 114 



164 



4,145 



201 



505 

 858 

 1,059 

 420 

 263 

 198 

 390 

 545 

 312 



$28 18 



22 79 



23 05 

 31 96 

 18 52 

 20 52 

 14 35 

 20 46 

 23 66 

 17 29 



7.7 



6.5 



6.1 



8.7 

 9.5 

 8.6 



365 

 333 



328 

 370 



287 



235 

 235 

 250 

 200 



553 



$22 08 



7.7 



289 



1.30 

 1.40 

 1.40 

 1.32 

 1.43 

 _i 



1.37 

 .91 

 .94 

 .92 



1.22 



281 

 237 

 237 

 280 

 200 

 197 

 171 

 258 

 266 

 218 

 235 



I Not weighed at end of trial. 



The above tabulation shows that the 10 calves, when fed on a com- 

 bination of whole and skim milk, hay and ordinary grains for an average 

 of 7.8 months (235 days) after birth, made an average daily gain of 1.22 

 pounds at a cost of $22.08 a head. 



