52 



MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 164. 



teiii and 9 per cent. fat. Nutrium ^ is evaporated sldm milk ground to a 

 powder. Blood flour is prepared especially bj^ Swift & Co. and Annour 

 & Co., and costs about 3 cents a pound at Chicago. 



Method of Feeding. — The finely ground calf meal was stirred into very 

 hot water at the rate of 1 pound of meal to 8 pounds of water. The gruel 

 was fed when milk-warm. Hayward used a caK feeder, but in our case 

 the animals were taught to drink the gruel. Two thrifty grade Jersey 

 calves were fed whole milk for about nine days, then skim millc and caLf- 

 meal gruel gradually substituted, until at the end of three weeks the 

 whole milk was entirely removed. At the end of five weeks the calves 

 were receiving only the calf -meal gruel. CaK I. was kept on the gruel 

 143 days and Calf II. 101 days. CaK II. was not as robust as CaK I., 

 and suffered a severe attack of indigestion during the trial, which rendered 

 it necessary to take away a considerable portion of the meal and to 

 substitute skim milk until the end of the experiment. While the calves 

 did not have as sleek an appearance as if raised on a whole milk diet, 

 they were in thrifty growing condition, and at the end of the trial ap- 

 peared quite vigorous. 



Results. 



The table shows that CaK I. made an average daily gain of 1.35 pounds, 

 and CaK II., 1.10 pounds, which was satisfactory. The animals were 

 nearly six months old when the trial was ended, CaK I. weigliing 310 

 pounds and CaK II., 260 pounds. The total food cost and the cost of 

 food per pound of live weight gained was rather more than desired. The 

 chief objection to this caK meal is its cost, due to the use of the evaporated 

 skim milk. 



The table also includes the average results secured by Hayward with 

 12 calves from the first few days after they were dropped until the end of 

 the experiment, which averaged 102 days. The cost of the milk and calf 

 meal has been figured by us at 5 cents a quart and 4.6 cents a pound 

 respectively. The 12 calves varied from 53 to 100 pounds at the begin- 

 ning, and from 127 to 254 pounds in weight at the close, of the trial. The 



1 Sold by the National Nutrient Co., Jersey City, N. J. Other skim-milk powders are made 

 by Merrill Soule Co., Syracuse, N.Y., and cost 12 or more cents a pound. Its cost renders its use 

 in any large amount hardly economical. 



