124 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK i. 



degree ? In truth, this question is surrounded with difficulties ; but, as 

 we have just now said, improved practice has shown that they can be 

 obtained in the same animal. 



CHAPTER VI. 



ON THE TREATMENT AND REARING OF CALVES. 



importance of bringing calves to an early maturity, with the 

 _|_ fullest development of their best qualities, has naturally excited 

 the attention, and employed the ingenuity, of the most expert breeders. 

 The best general plan is to adhere as closely as possible to nature ; 

 but as various modes of treatment have been adopted, we will endeavour 

 to bring into one view the most useful facts connected with this 

 subject. 



After the calf is produced, the cow almost uniformly shows an 

 inclination to cleanse it by diligently licking off the slimy matter 

 adhering to the young animal ; and this she should be allowed to do 

 without the slightest hindrance. It is a very bad practice to give gruel 

 to the calf soon after birth ; the colostrum, beastings, or first milk drawn 

 from the cow, will be the best thing that can be administered. It is 

 seemingly provided b} 7 nature as the first aliment of the newly-born 

 animal ; and is not only intended for the purpose of early sustentation, 

 but, by its mild aperient quality, it carries off the fieces that had been 

 accumulating in the intestines of the foetus during the last months of its 

 intra- uterine life. 



There are two modes of rearing calves : one is, to permit them to 

 run about with the parent cow during the first season, or a part of it ; 

 the other is, to remove them when born, and bring them up by hand. 



Whether calves are designed to be raised for breeding, labour, or 

 fattening, care should be taken that they have a sufficient supply of 

 good food ; for if the quantity is scanty at first, the animal will 

 rarely, if ever, attain a considerable growth. The best time for wean- 

 ing them is about that period of the year when the young grass acquires 

 succulence enough to entice the appetite, and to afford complete 

 nourishment without the aid of milk. Calves that are dropped in 

 October or November will thrive rapidly upon the nourishing pastures 

 into which they may be turned in the ensuing spring, if they have been 

 allowed to suck and have been properly sheltered throughout the winter ; 

 but the milk is often too scarce at that season to be usually bestowed 

 upon them ; and winter-weaned calves seldom arrive at much perfection. 

 Calves will do better in the house, with the cows brought up twice or 

 thrice a day to suckle them, as by this system a greater number of 

 calves may be reared from the same number of cows. 



