FEEDING CALVES. 173 



ation, will be apt to turn out a poor cow. This judgment of course 

 comes by practice, but a close study of these points will rarely fail to- 

 lead to an accurate selection. All calves that do not come up to a 

 proper standard, in this way, are at once destroyed, or vealed. 



Q. Do you attach any importance to the so-called " escutcheon," as 

 a mark of value 



A. As the escutcheon, so-called, is considered by many persons to 

 be of special importance, I have studied it very closely, but without, 

 discovering anything in it to form a judgment upon, excepting, per- 

 haps, in this way, and to a limited extent, quality and character and 

 marks are generally inherited together. If a calf has all the marks 

 of her dam and sire, it is reasonable to suppose that it will inherit, 

 with these marks, all the qualities and character as well. The 

 escutcheon is one of these marks, just as the fine eye and face and 

 slender tail and silky hair are, and will go just as far as one of 

 these may go, and no farther. But I have been led to believe that if 

 any person places all his reliance upon the escutcheon he will impose 

 upon himself and cherish a delusion. 



But, to return to our subject-: my way of feeding is to rear the 

 young animal up, never permitting it to run into fat; as once an 

 animal is run into fat it has a tendency that way, and in the dairy we 

 want milk and butter, and not fat in the carcass. The object in 

 feeding skimmed milk is to be free from the butter or fat-forming 

 substance, and we give larger quantities of the skimmed milk as soon 

 as the young animal can digest it, to increase the capacity of the 

 paunch, so that when grown to maturity they will consume and digest- 

 so much more feed, and hence produce larger quantities of milk; as- 

 a cow giving large quantities of milk requires a large amount of feed 

 to supply it, and should have capacity to hold and digest a larger 

 quantity. I had a Jersey calf which, at the age of five months, 

 milked two quarts of good milk per day, and up to the age of fourteen 

 months, when she was put to the bull, increased to four quarts per 

 day. She is still in my possession, and has given me two calves, and 

 has never been dry during the period of gestation. This was an 

 unusual case, and was caused by the constant sucking of its com- 

 panions. It shows, however, the natural inclination of this breed to 

 milk production. 



Q. Had it any weakening tendency on the animal ? 



A. No; I think not. This animal was in such a vigorous condition 

 that it rather gave her a finer development than if she had not given 

 milk until she came in at two years old. She is now four years old 

 and carrying her third calf, and I cannot observe that she is in any 

 way injured by it. 



