84 HATCH EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



a pound for the calf meal, the food cost in case of Calf I. was 

 $20.20, and in case of Calf H. $15.11. If the calves had 

 been fed largely calf meal at the end of the second week, 

 this cost would have been somewhat reduced. Again, the 

 calves might have been transferred a month earlier to a hay 

 and grain diet. The object, however, in the present test 

 was not to ascertain the minimum cost of raising the calf, 

 but rather to note the effect of the calf meal during the tirst 

 five or six months of the animal's life. 



Conclusions. — 1. It is evident that, with reasonable care 

 and cleanliness, calves can be successfully reared on Hay- 

 ward's calf meal. 



2. The meal is to be preferred only when a supply of skim 

 milk is not available, or as a substitute for a portion of the 

 milk. 



3. The cost^ is likely to be somewhat greater than when 

 skim milk can be had at two cents a gallon. The expense 

 of the meal is largely due to the nutrium, yet it is doubtful 

 if a mixture as satisfactor}^ for young calves could be obtained 

 without the use of this substance. 



4. The meal is evidently better utilized by calves after 

 they are three months old than before that period. 



5. The best method to be employed would probably be to 

 allow the calf to suck the cow for the lirst two days, then 

 feed whole milk for five days, to be followed by half whole 

 and half skim milk for a week, gradually reducing the whole 

 milk, so that at the beginning of the fourth week the diet 

 may consist of 3 quarts of skim milk and | to one pound of 

 the meal, dissolved in the necessary hot water. At the end 

 of the fourth week the skim milk may be dropped, and the 

 calf put upon a diet of 2 pounds of the calf meal a day. 

 Slight modifications may be made in this method depending 

 on the condition of the animal. 



* The writer has grown seven unselected young calves, having an average 

 weight when three days old of 73 pounds, to an average weight when ten weeks 

 old of 173 pounds, on skim milk, together with such common grains as corn 

 meal, wheat flour, flour middlings and gluten feed, at an average food cost of 

 $4.80 each. By this method of feeding, calves ought to he produced that will 

 weigh 200 to 300 pounds when five months old, at a food cost not exceeding $9 or 

 $10. (See eleventh report of Massachusetts State Experiment Station, p. 125.) 



