REARING OF DAIRY CALVES. 51 



It is understood that such a hberal feeding with skim milk could not 

 be followed excepting in those locahties where skim milk is in liberal supply. 

 Thus Fraser (Bulletin No. 164, lUinois Station) states that in the in- 

 terest of economy all milk may be removed after eight weeks, and the 

 animals placed upon a diet of mixed grain, clover and alfaKa ha3^ His 

 experiments averaged 150 pounds whole milk and 450 pounds skim milk 

 for each calf. He admits, however, that "when it is possible, more milk 

 than herein recommended should be fed, as it is always best to keep 

 the calf in a good gro'wing condition from its birth to maturity. Calves 

 thus fed were always healthy, and while they were rather thin, from 

 the time they were eight to twelve or fifteen weeks old, they grew into 

 good condition later, and made fine healthy heifers." 



Morse^ in 1898 fed young calves whole milk, skim milk and flaxseed 

 jelly, the latter being used as a supplement to skim milk in replacing the 

 milk fat. The average daily gain of 8 calves for five months was 1.37 

 poimds, and the total cost for each calf was $9.57. Whole milk was 

 valued at $1, skim milk at 20 cents, and flaxseed meal at $3.25 a hun- 

 dred pounds, much less than at present. Morse states that "flaxseed 

 meal cannot be used "with economy except in the earUest stages of growth, 

 — the first two or three months, — and whole milk should be discon- 

 tinued as soon as possible." 



Wing 2 fed 12 calves until five months of age on skim milk, hay and 

 grain, and found that they made an average gain of 1.5 pounds daily at 

 a cost of about 5 cents a pound. He figured his skim milk at 15 cents a 

 hundred, hay at $10 a ton and grain at about $30 a ton. He further con- 

 cluded that the food cost of rearing a calf to five months of age is from 

 $12 'to $15. The fact that the calves fed under his supervision made a 

 somewhat larger daily gain than ours at a less daily cost is due partly 

 to the less price charged for the skim milk and to the shorter period (five 

 instead of eight months). The older the animal the greater the cost of a 

 pound of gro'sv'th. 



II. Calves fed Haywakd's Calf Meal. 

 This meal was compounded as follows : — 



Pounds. 

 Finely ground wheat or cheap flour, ........ 30 



Cocoanut meal, ........... 25 



Nutrium, . . . . . . . . . . , .20 



Linseed meal, ............ 10 



Blood flour, ............ 2 



Present cost a pound, 4.6 cents. 



Hayward employed whole wheat ground by the local miller. St. Louis 

 flour can also be used. Cocoanut meal ' contains some 21 per cent, pro- 



1 Bui. 58, N. H. Exp. Sta. 



2 Bui. 269, Cornell Exp. Sta. (1909). 



' Sold by the Oil Seeds Co., 35 South William Street, New York. 



