AFTER-FEEDING. 167 



stated in this connection. The increased size of the 

 calf would be due to the larger size to which the cow 

 would attain ; and if as a calf she were allowed to ruD 

 with her dam in the pasture four or five months, taking 

 all the milk she wanted, she would doubtless be kept 

 growing on in a thriving condition. But taking a calf 

 from the cow at four or even eight weeks must check 

 its growth to some extent, and this may be avoided by 

 feeding liberally, and bringing up by hand. 



After the calf is fully weaned, there is nothing very 

 peculiar in the general management. A young animal 

 will require for the first few months — say up to the 

 age of six months — an average of five or six pounds 

 daily of good hay, or its equivalent. At the age of six 

 months it will require from four and a half to five 

 pounds, and at the end of the year from three and a 

 half to four pounds of good hay, or its equivalent, for 

 every one hundred pounds of its live weight; or, in 

 other words, about three and a half or four per cent, of 

 its live weight. At two years old it will require three 

 and a half, and some months later three per cent, of 

 its live weight daily in good hay or its equivalent. In 

 dian-corn fodder, either green or cured, forms an excel- 

 lent and wholesome food at this age. 



The heifer should not be pampered, nor yet poorly 

 fed or half starved, so as to receive a check in her 

 growth. An abundant supply of good healthy dairy 

 food and drink will do all that is necessary up to the- 

 time of having her first calf, which should not ordinarily 

 be till the age of three years, though some choose to- 

 allow them to come in at two or a little over, on the 

 ground that it early stimulates the secretion of milk, 

 and that this will increase the milking propensity 

 through life. This is undoubtedly the case, as a gen- 

 eral rule; but I think greater injury is done by checking 



