258 CALF RAISING 



which is neither sweet nor sour, but in that dangerous half- 

 changed condition. In addition to this many farmers have 

 been guilty of feeding tender young calves out of pails so dirty 

 as to be absolutely unlit to bear feed to any animal. The germs 

 of decomposition growing continually in the crevices, and on 

 the side, are distributed through the fresh milk supply and in- 

 troduced into the calf, where they continue to grow and cause 

 various sorts of evil conditions. Worse even than this is the 

 practice of pouring the milk into a tub or half barrel in the 

 yard, permitting the calves in the yard to jam their way in and 

 drink at will. The strongest secure too much and the weakest 

 not enough, and all get dirty stuff and suffer. 



For many years farmers have had difficulty in raising calves 

 on skim milk as it has been returned from the creamery. This 

 fact has been one of the reasons why the introducing of hand 

 separators has been so rapid and thorough within the past ten 

 years. AVith the strict enforcement of the law requiring the 

 pasteurization of skim milk to prevent the spreading of tuber- 

 culosis it was found that very good calves indeed could be raised 

 on the milk returned from the creamery. A few who have had 

 trying experiences with skim milk from the creamery have 

 settled upon the practice of permitting the milk to become thor- 

 oughly sour before feeding it to the calves. Thus, " clab- 

 berred " sour milk has been successfully fed to even young 

 calves and to the certain knowledge of the writer produce fine, 

 thrifty stock. This should not be surprising, however, when 

 we remember how many thousand human infants are now being 

 reared upon buttermilk, beginning even at the age of two weeks 

 or less and continuing until six to eight months of age. Cer- 

 tain it is that milk fed to a calf should be either thoroughly 

 sweet or thoroughly sour and in the same condition every time. 

 See Chapter XXII for discussion of treatment of scours. 



Blood meal has been found highly beneficial in correcting 

 digestive disturbance in calves. A tablespoonful of blood flour, 

 mixed with a small quantity of milk, fed to a calf with diarrhea 

 acts as a corrective in such disturbances and is a highly nutri- 

 tious feed as well. 



Raw eggs are excellent feed for a young calf which has 



