172 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE 



appetite of the calves and by common sense. Calves that 

 are to be fattened for veal should in most cases be fed on 

 new milk. Sweet skimmed milk furnishes a good basis for 

 calf feeding. To this may be added a porridge of corn-meal 

 or flaxseed meal with some fine wheat hay or grass. Ken- 

 tucky blue-grass is a splendid balanced ration for growing 

 calves. 



FEEDING AND CARING FOB CATTLE 



Feeding 1 compounds. The animal body contains widely 

 different tissues: bones, flesh, brains, hair, etc., and the body 

 tissues and the animal products contain many complex com- 

 pounds. The food that the animal gets must contain all the 

 elements that make up the animal body and its products. For 

 the purpose of study, these foods may be included under the 

 following heads: water, ash or mineral matter, protein, car- 

 bohydrates, and fats. 



Purpose of feeding 1 . We feed cattle to repair the broken- 

 down tissues in their bodies, to make them grow, to keep 

 their bodies warm, to produce energy for work, and to make 

 special products such as meat and milk. The young growing 

 animals require sufficient food to keep their bodies in repair, 

 to keep them warm, and to make them grow steadily. 



Foods and their special uses. It need merely be men- 

 tioned that water is indispensable to animal life, and that 

 cattle should be given free access to an abundance of water. 

 Ash or mineral matter is essential to the health of cattle. 

 The most abundant mineral food is phosphate of lime. Min- 



