CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF THE DAIRY HERD. 83 



Dairy Calf. 



Feeding and Management. Some dairymen consider that they can 

 not afford to raise their own cows and prefer to go out through the 

 country and take their chances in picking up a good cow as they need 

 one. The numher of cows bought in this way that really prove to be 

 worth their purchase price is very small. It is much more satisfactory 

 in the long run to raise the cows for the dairy and in this way know 

 the 'history of the animal and something about what can be expected 

 in the way of production. 



As a rule where milk is retailed the price is such that the owner con- 

 siders it unprofitable to feed the calf on whole milk for any length of 

 time, but it is advisable to make a little sacrifice at first for the 

 welfare of the calf later on. If the calf gets well started there will 

 be little trouble. There is no objection to leaving the calf with the cow 

 for three or four days or until the milk is fit for use. The calf can be 

 taken away then and placed in a separate stable if it is possible, as the 

 cow will give less trouble if the calf is where she can not see it. By 

 missing one feed, the calf will usually be hungry enough to be anxious 

 to start to drink readily and will usually give little trouble when it 

 finds that the bucket contains the supply. -Four pounds of milk per 

 feed fed three times a day for the first ten days will give the calf a 

 good start when a small amount of skim milk may be substituted for 

 a part of the whole milk, the amount of skim milk being increased so 

 that when the calf is a month old, it is getting skim milk entirely. 

 When the calf is two weeks old the feeds may be changed to two per 

 day with the amount of milk increased gradually as the calf shows 

 ability to handle it. As a rule when a calf is three weeks old it will 

 begin to eat a little grain and it will usually be well to supply some to 

 replace the butterfat removed from the milk. An excellent grain mix- 

 ture for calves is one made of corn meal, oats, and wheat bran in equal 

 parts with a little linseed meal added. To grow calves well they should 

 have just what grain they will clean up readily at each feed. Plenty 

 of green grass is good for growing calves, but if it is hot and dry or 

 winter time a fine quality clover hay will produce excellent results. In 

 addition to being nutritious, the clover hay carries considerable mineral 

 matter which will help materially in developing the framework. Calves 

 should have milk until they are at least five or six months old for best 

 results. If they are forced to subsist on coarse feeds and grain too 

 young they will be stunted, as their digestive system is not developed 

 enough to handle such food, exclusively, at an early 'age. 



A common mistake among some dairymen is to feed just what they 

 happen to have to their calves instead of securing feeds that the calf 

 can thrive on. In the Southern States cottonseed meal is commonly 

 fed to calves, and it is one of the poorest feeds that can be given the 

 young calf. If it does not prove to be fatal, it will be decidedly detri- 

 mental to thrift. The writer, in some feeding trials at this Station 

 recently, has used cottonseed meal with other grains and has found that 

 calves could not handle the meal satisfactorily until they were ten or 

 twelve months old. In every case it proved detrimental to development 



