100 



CONCLUSIONS 



1. The use of skim milk as a feed for young calves is increasing 

 in tho>e sections where it is available in large quantities. Its use 

 for this purpose should be encouraged unless its market value is 

 above thirty cents per hundred pounds. So long as skim milk is 

 available as a feed for live stock, milk substitutes for dairy calves 

 are of comparatively limited value. 



2. Jn certain sections of the State, the chief product sold from 

 the farm is whole milk. Under these conditions, the growing of 

 dairy heifers becomes a very expensive proposition unless a milk 

 substitute may be secured, making it possible to reduce the amount 

 of milk required for calf feeding to the minimum. Under such con- 

 ditions, the use of a home-mixed calf meal is advisable although the 

 calf so produced will not be as well developed at six months of age 

 as if fed milk during its early growing period. 



3. The prices charged by concerns manufacturing calf meals 

 are usually very much above the actual cost of producing them, 

 chiefly, on account of advertising cost, transportation charges and 

 dealers' profits. All things being equal so far as the efficiency of the 

 ration is concerned, the use of a ready-prepared calf meal is, large- 

 ly, prohibitive on account of the high retail prices of such feeds. 



4. The results, from the standpoint of gain in weight and 

 growth in height, produced by feeding Blatchford's Calf Meal do not 

 warrant its recommendation as an absolute milk substitute for the 

 growing of dairy calves. 



5. In order for a ration to be considered an unqualified suc- 

 cess for dairy calves, it should produce, at least, one pound of gain 

 per day as an average for the first six months of the life of the calf. 

 An average daily gain of one and one-half pounds is not uncommon, 

 although slightly above that which the average dairyman may ex- 

 pect. 



6. The amount of grain mixture and dry roughage consumed 

 b\- daily calves is a splendid index to their thriftiness. The develop- 

 ment of an appetite for dry feeds is governed by the type of milk or 

 milk substitute ration fed and the method of feeding the supple- 

 mentary feeds. The feeder's ability to encourage and teach the 

 calves to eat dry feeds is an important factor to consider in raising 

 calves by hand. 



7. The amount ol food nutrients required per day by growing 

 calves is, approximately, one-third of a pound of protein, one pound 

 of carbohydrates and five-hundredths of a pound of fat. The above 

 figure^ are based upon the total amount rather than the amount of 

 digestible nutrients consumed. 



