132 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK i. 



ness as breeding animals ; for, though most of them so forced will 

 breed, there is, of course, more risk in calving them, their milking 

 properties are greatly lessened, from those vessels intended by nature 

 for the supply of milk being coated with fat, and they decay pre- 

 maturely, and have all the marks of age upon them at seven or eight, 

 whereas I have bred from cows not so forced up to twenty-two years of 

 age. The happy medium is the best, where they are kept in thoroughly 

 good condition." 



The successful rearing of calves very much depends on the regularity 

 and frequency of feeding them. The common practice is, to supply 

 them with food twice in the day, viz., in the morning and at evening, 

 when they generally receive as large a quantity as will satisfy their 

 craving appetite. Hence the digestive organs are necessarily impaired, 

 and too many animals either become tainted with disease, or perish 

 from the inattention of their keepers ; whereas, by feeding them thrice, 

 or even four times, in the day, at equidistant intervals, and allowing 

 them sufficient space for exercise, they will not only be preserved in 

 health, but will greatly improve in condition. 



Whatever food is allowed to young calves, care should be taken not 

 to change it too suddenly. A calf should have attained a certain 

 degree of strength before it can dispense with the food most natural to 

 its age, or thrive without the aid of milk : this fluid should therefore 

 be allowed as long as possible. Even when that has been withdrawn, 

 and the animal has begun to eat grass, hay, or artificial food, the milk 

 or the substitutes employed in lieu of it should be parti}' continued 

 until the calf begins to prefer the pasture. It is a common notion 

 that, provided young stock acquire size, their condition is immaterial ; 

 and, after the first winter, they are often turned into the roughest 

 pasture, and kept during the following winter on chopped straw, with, 

 perhaps, a little indifferent hay. This, when they are intended to be 

 sold to the fattening grazier, may be the most profitable mode, and, in 

 some situations, it may be the only one that can be adopted ; but, 

 when they are to be reared for the breed, it is absolutely requisite, as 

 the only means of bringing them to perfect maturity, and improving 

 every good quality, that they should be kept on good pasture during 

 the summer, and allowed roots with some sound hay in the winter, and 

 green food in the spring. A contrary mode, however apparently 

 economical, is decidedly disadvantageous ; for the worst breed will 

 ultimately be improved by good feeding, while the best will degenerate 

 under a system of starvation. 



Of recent contributions to our knowledge of the art of calf-rearing 

 one of the most useful, as it is one of the most practical, is that of the 

 Rev. John Gillespie, which appears in the Transactions of the High- 

 land and Agricultural Society of Scotland, 1890. The author says : 



" Whatever system is adopted, calf-rearing, to be successful, demands 

 not only skill, but above all, careful management and unremitting 

 personal superintendence. Where pail-feeding is followed, the person 

 in charge must be thoroughly reliable, and very painstaking. The 

 food must be .given with very scrupulous care and regularity. This is 



