138 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER, BOOK i. 



other food such as ground wheat and barley-meal which has been 

 grown on the farm. By-and-by nice sweet hay is put in their racks, 

 and they are also supplied with grated turnips with bean-meal shaken 

 over them. The beans are ground, and only the fine meal given to 

 the calves, the coarser portions being mixed with crushed oats for the 

 horses. Mr. Henry remarks that, where large herds of one or two 

 hundred cows are kept, the separators are in his opinion absolutely 

 necessary ; but in the case of small farmers having from ten to thirty 

 cows, he advocates the use of the Jersey creamer in well-constructed, 

 properly ventilated dairies. The cream should be sent to butter 

 factories three times a week, whereby a large saving is effected as 

 compared with sending the whole milk twice a day. Further, under 

 this system, the skim-milk is retained at home for the feeding of 

 calves and pigs. When potatoes were plentiful and cheap, Mr. Henry 

 added boiled potatoes (without the skins) to the food of the calves 

 after the latter were from two to three months old, with most successful 

 results. 



Mr. Luke Christy, Carigreen, Limerick, allows calves to remain 

 with their dams for the first three or four days ; then the diet consists 

 of new milk for the next ten days or fortnight, thereafter skim-milk 

 being gradually substituted. The supplement used is porridge made 

 of wheat-flour and flax-seed, enough of the mixture being added to 

 afford a full drink to each calf. 



We will conclude by quoting some excellent observations which 

 Mr. Gilbert Murray contributed to Mr. Gillespie's paper on " Calf -rear- 

 ing." He wrote : 



" The housing of the calves is of equal importance with that of the 

 food. On some farms they are relegated to the worst building on the 

 farm, dark, undrained, and ill-ventilated. The litter is literally soaked 

 with urine, and the fermented droppings emit a noisome smell. 

 Diarrhoea of a virulent type sets in, invariably proving fatal to the more 

 delicate subjects. Peat-moss litter when used is an immense improve- 

 ment on straw, as the moss absorbs the urine, retards decomposition, 

 and keeps the calf-house in a sweet and healthy state. The droppings 

 should be daily removed, and a slight sprinkling of moss added. 



" The calf-house should be specially constructed for the purpose. 

 No expensive structure is needed, the chief merit being in the design. 

 We are frequently putting up at a small cost wooden structures which 

 fully meet the requirement. The walls are of wood. Oak or pitch- 

 pine posts, eight inches square, are placed at intervals of about nine 

 feet apart. These are covered with one-inch match-boards. The 

 building is six feet six inches high to the under side of the wall plate, 

 and eighteen feet wide. The rafters are covered with half-inch match- 

 boards, on which is laid a covering of roofing-felt, at a cost of Id. per 

 square yard. The roof must have a coating of coal-tar and pitch 

 yearly. We have roofs of this description in perfect order after a period 

 of twenty years' wear. The buildings are well lighted and ventilated, 

 and are divided into pens of eight feet by fifteen feet. A three-feet 

 passage runs the whole length of the shed, parallel to which is the 



