332 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



APRIL 17, 184 



For ilie N. E. Fanner. 



"REARING CALVES ON SKIM-.MILK." 

 " Help me, Cassius, or I sink .'" 



Mr F.tHlor, — Had I well con^illeted the proba- 

 ble effect of my rashness in challenging; opposition 

 to the views advanceil by nie in a former communi- 

 cation, against the practice of rearing calves on 

 skimmed milk, I might, perhaps, have saved myself 

 the nuirtification of being proved (?) a whimsical 

 ihconst, by one who glories in being a veteran 

 " Skim-milker" of " fifty years' experience." AJy 

 temerity, I see plain enough, sir, has got me into 

 ditficulty, — and I am undecided now, whether, un- 

 der the influence of what the doughty Falstaff con- 

 sidered "the better part of valor," it would not be 

 the wiser course for tne to sliow the white feather 

 at once, than attempt to summon courage and con- 

 tend against such fearful odds. But when f reflect 

 that my opponent avows himself " Jl Skim-milker" 

 I can hardly find it in my pluck to yield to such a 

 foe withiiul at least a show of opposition, though I 

 am aware it is an encounter in which few laurels 

 can be won, liowever spirited may be the combat. 

 But, (as I before hinted,) in view of my opponent's 

 '•fifty years' e.\p''ripnce" in raising calves (on "skim 

 riilk") and his wife's in raising "babes" — (which 

 matter i.-? incidentally connected with the question 

 in consideration) — in view of these unfavorable 

 circumstances, and my own vulnerable points, my 

 first impulse was to retreat from the field, with all 

 the show of dignity and courage, which silence, in 

 certain cases, is said to indicate. But a truce to 

 this skirmishing. 



"A Skim-milker" — {(he very yiame takes away 

 all " stomach for the fight") — opens his battery 

 upon me b_y the very mortifying assurance that my 



opinions were " not a little amusing to him" he 



''having had fifty years' experience in raising 

 calves" (on "skim-milk,") and I being " evidently 

 little acquainted with the subject." Upon this I 

 have only to remark, that if I have in any degree 

 contributed to his amusement, I am glad of it. Men, 

 at a certain period of life, have, sometimes, a sort' 

 of childish passion for amusement; and it is possi- 

 ble that such might be merely amused with that, 

 which, with others, would excite reflection rather 

 than mirth. (I hope this remark will not be taken 

 as indicating irreverence fur age, as of that I am 

 guiltless.) 



On my remark that the practice of rearin" calves 

 on ''skim-milk" is "as unnatural as impolitic,"* 

 and that " those who adopt it for present gain, do 

 so, most likely, at the expense of future loss," he 

 exclaims with emphasis, " ' Ahst likely^: if the 

 writer knows any thing about it, why do n't he tell 

 us wh:<t he knows ?" That 's a pertinent question, 

 Mr "Skim-milker," and I will endeavor to meet it 

 with a pertinent answer. There are two ways in 

 which we acquire what we conceive to be certain 

 knowledge: one is by the clear convictions of our 

 reason; the other, by the results of experience. It 

 was from knowledge acquired in the first named 

 way, mainly, (though supported by others' experi- 

 ence,) that I was led to pronounce unnatural and 

 iiiipolitir the practice which "A Skim-milker" sup- 

 ports. What^l "A-riou;," then, "about it," is this 

 viz: I know it is repugnant to my reason, and not 

 approved by the txperitnce of, at least, some others. 

 Thi.s is my answer to his interrogatory, and if it is 



not satisfactory to him, I cannot help it. I can " Seeing the degenerate race of our native i 

 suppose him ready to meet it with, " llavn"t I been , cattle generally, I was induced to try another a; 



"Allowini; ihe calf to run with the cow and draw its food 

 directly from her, is doubtless the beU method, since it is 

 t hat of no! are, — Gaylord. 



raising calves for fifty years, and had n't I ought to 

 know whether my method or yours is the best to 

 make the best animals ?" To this [ would answer 

 unhesitatingly, no — unless you have given both 

 methods a fair trial — and this I do not see that 

 my " skim-milk" opponent acknowledges to have 

 done. The highest wisdom does not always result 

 from the greatest age. Home men at thirty, will 

 have acquired far more skill in the conduct of their 

 business than others who had had twice their expe- 

 rience in the same occupation. I merely state the 

 fact, and leave my opponent to draw such inferen- 

 ces as the premises justify. He may be in himself 

 proof positive that this "confident opinion" is no 

 " whimsical theory." 



Upon my remark that "the bare idea of rearing 

 calves on skimmed milk, was ridiculous enough,", 

 &c., " A Skim-milker," (after reminding me again 

 of his '' fifty years' experience,") says: "It is all 

 a u-himsical theory that there cannot be as good 

 cattle raised on skim-milk, as to size and shape, as 

 in any other way. They are ynore hardy, make 

 better working oxen, and for cows, are quite as 

 likely to make good milkers, and quite as good to 

 propagate from. Letting calves suck a cow till 

 some months old, inakes too much bone ; especially 

 the legs are apt to be too large, and not so firm as 

 those which have a less rapid growth when young- ; 

 and they are more apt to tire wlien worked." 



Now — with due deference for my opponent's 

 " fifty years' experience" — if this short extract 

 does not embody as much "whimsical theory" as 

 could well be condensed in so many words, then 

 I confess my faculty of discerning the difference 

 between theory and fact, must be lamentably ob- 

 tuse, and the knowledge I have gained from scien- 

 tific reading, most egregiously deceptive. But, 

 (fortunately for my " whimsical theory,") I am not 

 forced to rely upon my reasoning faculties and 

 reading alone, for evidence in contradiction of the 

 general doctrine laid down with so much dogmati- 

 cal assumption, in the extract just quoted. I have 

 a backer to my " confident opinions," whose prac- 

 tical experience in raising cattle is quite as great, 

 I may very safely venture to say, as that boasted 

 by my "skim-milk" opponent. I refer to Col. 

 Jaqdes, of the Stock Farm, Charlestown ; and to 

 show the superiority of his GH<j-"skim-milk" treat- 

 ment in the production of valuable animals, (and 

 certainly the extra prices which those named below 

 commanded, are proof of ejira men7,^ I will hero 

 introduce some facts which that gentleman some 

 time since kindly furnished me: , 



"I am" (writes Col. J.,) "no stranger to the 

 mode of feeding calves on 'skimmed milk,' nor to 

 using a dung-fork the weight of which was former- 

 ly ifiea^^ squal to that of the improved fork when 

 full of manure. Many calves, in my youthful days, 

 have I taken from the cows at three or four days 

 old, and learned them to drink skimmed milk in a 

 piggin, and at eight or ten weeks old, they were 

 turned out to grass, in the calf pasture, and after- 

 wards wmtered on what is called in Massachusetts, 

 meadow hay. But by this mode of feeding, I nev- 

 er was fortunate enough to produce a cow to weigh 

 ten, or even eight hundred pounds, although well 

 fattened. I apprehend where this has been done, 

 there might have been some mixed blood of im- 

 proved breeds, other than what is called our native 

 breed. 



of feeding and rearing my calve,<, which has b 

 attended with better succes.s, and some of the; 

 suits of which follow : 



"I had a bull calf dropped July 3d, 1821: 

 was got by my Durham buW Calebs — dain 

 Durham cow Flora — which calf I named EcL 

 I allowed him to suck a portion of the milk of 

 dam for one year, keeping him in the stable, 

 the 3d day of July, 1822, he being one year 

 his weight was lOGO pounds; his girth six 

 On the 9th day of October, 1823, I present-d 

 at the Brighton Cattle Show for a premium. Tl 

 on that day, Eclipse was weighed under the di 

 tion of the committee, and his weight was 1 

 pounds. The committee awarded me for Ed 

 as the best bull, the Society's first premium of: 

 I also received of a gentleman that day, $!( 

 the service o( Eclipse to his cow in the pens. 



"Eclipse was weighed again on the 3d da' 

 April, 1833, he being then 31 months old,' 

 weighed 1502 pounds ; and on this last mentic 

 day, I sold Eclipse for $500, to Thomas Pourte 

 Esq., President of the Montreal Agricultural 

 ciety, Canada. This, including the $40 premi 

 and the .$10 for his services to the cow, mi 

 $550. Eclipse never had any grain kind nor r 

 while in my possession. He was always i 

 high condition as vi'as proper for good growth. 



" On the 18th of April, 1S2.5, I sold to Gic 

 O. Dixon, then an extensive farmer of Jericho, 

 my bull calf called Independence, Arnppei July 

 1834, for $300; and to the same, a heifer cal 

 months old, of mixed breed, for $75. Indeptnd 

 was 9 months and 14 days old, and weighed 

 pounds. He was got by Ccelebs, dam Daisey. 



"Jan. 7th, 1839, I sold my heifer called Corn^ 

 soon after she dropped her first calf, for $35( 

 go to Georgia. 



"These and other like circumstance.^, have 

 duced me, when I wish to make the most of 

 calves, to allow them to suck the cow for the 

 three or four months, keeping them in the st: 

 the first summer, in preference to feeding then 

 ' skimmed milk ' or 'skimmed milk porridge,' 

 the sake of saving four or five cents as an e: 

 price on a pound of butter." 



So much to the credit of the an<i-skim-milk tr 

 ment and judicious breeding, in the productio 

 extra animals, — which, coupled with the fact eU 

 by Col. J., that he has tried the "skim-rnilk" mi 

 od and found it deficient in merit, and that 

 practice is that adopted by some of the most 



tinguished cattle raisers in Great Britain, tli 



facts, supported by reason and science, I opposi 

 the unwarranted — might I nut say preposterous 

 assumptions of " A Skim-milker," in the extr 

 from his article above quoted, in which he says 

 effect, that his " skim-milk" mode of rearing cal 

 makes even better animals than that adopted' 

 Col. Jaques, and other enlightened and skilful sto 

 raisers, (who have, not unlikely, forgot more in 

 lation to the business, thaii "A Skim-milker" e 

 knew,) and who, I conceive, are very good authoi 

 to cite in support of wliat my opponent, in the p 

 fuiulity of his mature wisdom, is pleased to term 

 whimsical theory," hut which term, I think, is m( 

 justly applicable to his own. At any rate, tw 

 "fifty years' experience," if it resulted in suchv/ 

 dom concerning the matter in question, as that 

 which he has attained, would not weich a feati 



