174 



CONTINUOUS CROPPING 



CALVES ON *' WINTER-GREEN CROPS" 



The actual method followed by the writer in feeding 

 weaned calves is to turn them out wherever possible 

 on a plot of rape, say, from September to the end of 

 November. Whilst on the rape, as a corrective, they 

 receive about i lb. per head per day of palm nut or 

 cocoanut cake and have a little clover or vetch hay 

 placed in a rack, which they can eat as they desire. 



Later, they are put into a movable shed in which 

 the dry fodder is fed on a more liberal scale and the 

 cake increased to 2 lbs. per day. For succulent food, 

 they are allowed, except in very wet or frosty weather, 

 to graze a piece of winter greens an hour or so every 

 day. During unsuitable weather, when out-grazing 

 is not possible, the youngsters receive in the shed an 

 allowance of from 2 to 3 st. of roots or ij to 2 st. of 

 vetch silage. Fed this way, the calves are very 

 healthy. Hoose, the bane of the calf rearer, need not 

 be feared since the pest causing this disease is not to 

 be found on the winter-green crop. 



Further, being hardier than in-fed " coddled '* 

 animals, they are better able to withstand other 

 ailments. The greater advantage of out- as compared 

 with in-feeding is most marked in the following 

 summer, whilst the way calves thrive when grazing 

 rape pasture cannot fail to strike the least observant. 



In the leaflet mentioned above a standard fattening 

 ration for young cattle from 18 to 24 months is as 

 follows : — 



i^ st. ;meadow hay . 



J St. oat straw . 



4 st. swedes 



2 lbs. ground nuts 



2 lbs. linseed cake 



2, lbs. undecorticated cake 



containing 1-48 lbs. digest- 

 ible protein with a starch 

 value of 11-4 lbs, 



