144 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK i. 



CHAPTER VII. 



ON THE FEEDING OF CALVES, FOR VEAL. 



VEAL being a favourite article of diet, the fattening of calves is an 

 object of no small importance, particularly in the vicinity of large 

 towns. Hence various kinds of food and modes of treatment have been 

 recommended ; but the best way is to keep the calves in somewhat 

 dark places, in pens, lest they should fatigue themselves by sporting 

 too much in the light, and to feed them on milk, with the addition of 

 bean, pea, or barley meal, during the last few weeks. The calves 

 usually become sufficiently fat in six or eight weeks ; and it is not 

 desirable to keep them beyond the time when they are fit for the 

 butcher, as small veal, if equally fat, is preferred to that which is large. 

 Cleanliness, as an indispensable object in fattening calves, should be 

 particularly attended to here. For this purpose, the pens should be 

 elevated to such a height from the ground that the urine may pass 

 freely, and litter should be supplied ever}' day, in order that the 

 animals may lie dry and clean. A large chalk-stone may also be sus- 

 pended over the pen, so that the calves may readily lick it. 1 



The following is the mode of rearing these animals in the vicinity of 

 Abbey-Holme, in the county of Cumberland, where the calves are re- 

 markable for their size, fatness, and pleasing white colour. During 

 the first two or three weeks the young calves are fed in the common 

 way ; and, at the end of that time, are conducted to what are termed 

 feeding-sheds. Two small stakes are driven into the ground for every 

 calf, at the distance of ten inches or a foot from each other. The head 

 of the animal is then put through the intermediate space, a strap or 

 cord being passed round its head, on either side of which there is a 

 ring that surrounds the stake. By means of this contrivance the calf 

 is prevented from licking itself, which habit, it is supposed, would 

 materially affect its health and growth, while it is not so confined as to 

 be hindered from lying down or rising at pleasure. When the calf is 

 somewhat reconciled to its new habitation, the Abbe} r -Holme farmers 

 supply it with better food than it has been accustomed to receive. 

 Bightly judging that the latter part of a cow's milk is more nourishing 

 and of a richer quality than that which is first drawn, they divide the 

 milk according to the respective ages of the animals, invariably giving 

 the better part to the oldest calves. 



Another circumstance peculiar to that district is the regulation of 

 the temperature of the feeding-sheds according to the alternation of the 

 different seasons, so as to keep them, as nearly as possible, at the same 

 degree of heat. This practice cannot be too strongly recommended. 



1 Chalk is commonly supposed to assist in whitening the flesh. This idea is probably 

 erroneous ; but it has a salutary effect in correcting that acidity of the stomach to which 

 calves are very liable, and in thus preventing the consequent scouring. 



