CHAPTER III. 

 ON THE CALF. 



The calf, the progeny of the best acquired knowledge of the far- 

 mer, who has mated his cow with a bull of certain quality in order 

 to perpetuate their combined qualities, has been the object of many 

 careful writers, which is only natural seeing the many modifications 

 of its constitution achievable by the art of breeding, and the acci- 

 dents to which it is subject in the foetal state, and in the process of 

 birth. When a calf is born the cow by some instinctive prompting 

 will invariably lick off the slimy or mucous matter with which.it is 

 covered. Some authorities consider it a mistake to allow the cow 

 to do this, and advise taking the calf away immediately it is dropped 

 and cleaning it with straw ; others on the other hand affirm that 

 .Nature should be allowed to take its course and permit the calf to 

 remain with the cow from one to four days. If, after the calf has 

 been cleaned and has began to suck the cow's udder should be care- 

 fully attended to the navel-string should continue to bleed, a ligature 

 ought to be fastened round it very near but not in contact with the 

 belly. If the place at the division of the cord should be unusually 

 sore it oueht to be dressed with a little tow, dipped in friar's balsam, 

 made fast with a bandage, which ought to be renewed twice daily, 

 as an inflammatory state of the navel is the cause of many ills in 

 calves. 



The first milk, or beastings, possesses an aperient power of clearing 

 away the glutinous faeces which have accumulated in the intestines of 

 the foetus, and which obstruct the due performance of the intestinal 

 functions of the calf, and exert a tendency towards the origination 

 of disease. It also possesses a peculiar nutritive power, and a strongly 

 viscid condition well adapted and evidently intended for the early in- 

 vigoration and support of the young animal. '' Nature," says Marshall, 

 " has evidently prepared milk of a peculiar quality for the infant calf, 

 and this milk is useless in the dairy ; it is therefore doubly good man- 

 agement to allow the calf the cow's milk until such milk becomes fit 

 for the dairy, which it usually does in from two to four days." This 

 is generally done in France, Belgium, and Holland ; and no person 

 in those countries will taste the milk of a cow until about a week 

 after she has dropped her calf. As a rule, however, every farmer 

 might to calculate whether the milk of his cows should be given 

 to the calf, the pig, or the human consumer. 



The destination of calves, whether -for early slaughter, for fattening 

 into fine condition for veal or for the dairy depends entirely on the 

 management of the farmer. Now that the flesh of unfed or but 

 slightly fed calves is prohibited by law, more care is taken in pre- 

 paring calves for the veal market, and one is seldom confronted with 

 " slink veal" or " staggering Bob" nowadays in our city dining rooms 

 as of yore. 



Cow's milk is undoubtedly the natural provision for the rearing of 

 the calf, and contains a large proportion of the necessary nutritive 

 principles, and any calf which is not reared, either on the mother 

 or on a food similar and of equally nutritive qualities, must suffer 

 in consequence thereof. But in districts where milk is highly valu- 

 able, substitutes for portions of it must be early and constantly given; 

 and among the most approved of these are water-gruel, haytea, linseed 

 jelly, crude cod-liver oil, turnips, and carrots boiled ; these can be 

 mixed with either skim-milk or hay-tea and given warm. We have 

 also on the market many so-called calf foods, which may or may not 

 be exactly a substitute for even skim milk. 



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