352 REARING AND FEEDING OF ANIMALS. 



a little of these dissolved in the milk, its nourishing properties may be increased 

 to any degree required. The calf should be fed three times in the day, regu- 

 larly "at a fixed hour. 



After twelve weeks, the use of new milk may be given up and skimmed milk 

 substituted, making it lukewarm, and the quantity gradually lessened; and in 

 the course of one month more, that is, in four months in all, the animal may 

 be entirely weaned. 



This indeed is more liberal feeding than is usually deemed necessary; yet 

 it is a great error to stint animals in their food at this age, with the view of 

 economising milk. It is from this cause that so many stunted animals are to 

 be seen in the hands of breeders and farmers, that never afterwards attain to 

 a good size, nor acquire a disposition to fatten. 



During the period of feeding with milk, the animals will be taught by de- 

 grees to supply themselves with food. For this purpose, when the season is 

 not sufficiently advanced, a bunch of sweet hay, or any green herbs, should be 

 placed within reach of the animals; and a little salt may be given, which they 

 will soon learn to lick, when placed beside them. If the weather allows, they 

 may be turned into a yard for a few hours in the day, and after a time, when 

 the weather becomes mild, into a little paddock containing sweet grass, housing 

 them at first at night, until they shall be fully hardened to the air. 



The males, when not intended for propagating, may be castrated when 30 

 days old. The operation is easily performed, by two incisions with a sharp 

 knife. An analogous operation, termed spaying, is sometimes performed upon 

 the female, when she is intended for feed; but the more approved practice is 

 lo preserve her entire. 



The weaning of the calf, it has been said, may take place at the end of four 

 months. The calf is then merely turned into good pasture during the re- 

 mainder of the season, and fed like the other stock, and generally along with 

 the cows or feeding oxen; and, as in the case of all growing animals, it should 

 be allowed ample food. 



The subsequent treatment of calves necessarily depends upon the nature of 

 the farm, and the species of food which can be supplied. Where there is 

 nothing but coarse pastures and inferior hay, and when no roots or cultivated 

 forage can be raised, then the stock of the farm must be suited to these cir- 

 cumstances. 



In cases where no other food can be supplied than the natural produce of the 

 farm, the same care and delicacy in rearing are not necessary or practicable, 

 as under a more artificial system of feeding. The cows, in such cases, are 

 usually permitted to suckle their young. During the first winter, the young 

 animals receive such pasture and natural hay as the farm affords. In the fol- 

 lowing summer they are kept on the coarse pastures of the farm; in the follow- 

 ing winter they are maintained as in the former one, and so on until disposed 

 of to the feeder, which may be in the second or third, or even sometimes the 

 fourth, year of their age. The sooner cattle, under these circumstances, can 

 be brought lo maturity, the better is it for the interests of the breeder. 



The system of breeding, however, where the nature of the farm is such as 

 to afford a supply of proper food to the animals, and where the finer class of 

 stock is kept, is altogether different. In this case, the principle of the system 

 followed, is to afford a full supply of food to the animal, from the birth to the 

 time that it is transferred to the butcher. This principle applies to all animals 

 intended to be fattened. 



The calves, after being weaned, are put, it has been said, on good pasture, 

 and fed for the remainder of the season. When the herbage fails in autumn, 

 the animals should be put in straw-yards, with sheds, into which they may re- 

 tire for shelter. The number put into one division or yard should not be too 

 great, though this is less important at this period of their life than afterwards. 

 Calves to the number of 20 may be kept together in one yard, provided they 

 have plenty of room; but when animals are of a large breed, it is better that 

 the number should not exceed 10. 



The yards should have pure water in each, conveyed to them by pipes, and 

 retained in troughs, to which the animals can have access at all times. Each 

 yard should have, along one at least of the sides, shallow troughs, formed of 



