1870. 



2^W ENGLAND FAEIVIER. 



227 



worth about $1.25, and the stomach or rennet 

 twentj'-five cents. 



Some farmers allow the calves new milk for 

 from one to four weeks, and then sell them 

 for veal at from six to ten cents per pound 

 live weight, and the money thus obtained is 

 sometimes enough to buy a calf in the fall six 

 months old. 



Others have not pigs enough to eat all the 

 irilk, or thev want a few heifers, or have a 

 choice breed of cattle, so they raise the calves. 



I need not say that new milk as drawn from 

 the cow by the calf is its natural food, and 

 will cause a thrifry growth ; but when calves 

 are fed on new milk it is well to learn the calf 

 to drink, and not allow it to suck. A calf so 

 managed will be more easily taught to eat 

 other food, and may do better at weaning. 



But new milk is not necessary after the first 

 few days. I have now three calves that after 

 they were three days old were fed with milk 

 skimmed after it had set thirty-six hours. 

 The quality of this milk is improved by add- 

 ing a pint of scalded India wheat flour. I 

 prefer this flour to corn or oat meal. What- 

 ever kind is used it should be scalded. First, 

 wet the meal with warm water, then pour upon 

 it boiling water. In this way the meal is in a 

 liquid state instead of in chunks, as it would 

 be if scalding water was poured upon dry 

 meal. 



Upon about eight quarts of such feed, morn- 

 ing and night, a calf will thrive if it is not 

 troubled with a looseness of the bowels, called 

 "scours." This is brought on by having the 

 milk too cold, or too hot, or too rich with 

 meal, or too great quantity at one feed, so as 

 to overload the stomach of the calf. These 

 four things must be regarded. The feed 

 should be near the temperature of new milk, 

 or "blood heat." 1 test the temperature by 

 feeling it with the hand. It is not safe to 

 trust a disinterested person to feed the calves. 

 Much has been written in regard to the man- 

 ipulations of milk to make butter and cheese ; 

 but as much care is necessary in raising calves 

 as in making cheese or butter. After calves 

 are well started I prefer that the milk should 

 be sour, and if it is coagulated no matter. I 

 know many instances of fine calves being so 

 fed. 



If a calf begins to scour it should be stopped 

 as soon as possible by diminishing the quality 

 or quantity of feed, or by adding a solution 

 of rennet, or a decoction of hemlock or oak 

 bark, or of the plant called "snake's-head," 

 "hog's-tooth," or "belladonna," a very bitter 

 plant that grows in lowlands, and has a white 

 blossom, from the shape of which it has re- 

 ceived its first name. Chalk put within their 

 reach is a preventative, if eaten. Dry earth 

 is also used. 



It is a common saying among dairymen that 

 if a calf will not do well upon skimmed milk, 

 it is not worth raising. My experience and 

 observation leads me to believe there is much 



difference in calves. Some will not do well ; 

 their digestive organs seem weak, and this 

 weakness is, I judge, sometimes inherited. 

 Calves from cows that are very hardy, and 

 have been well fed, are likely to do better 

 than from a cow with poor constitution and a 

 straw or starvation diet. 



Grade calves from a thoroughbred bull often 

 excel the native stock in thrift. In 1868 I 

 raised two half blood Dutch calves. They 

 were very superior animals, and one had a 

 calf when 2'2h months old. I milk from her 

 from fifteen to twenty pounds of milk a day. 

 In 1869, I had two half blood Short-horns, 

 and one half-blood Dutch. This year I have 

 some grades of the same kind that are doing 

 well. 



Calves should be kept separate, each in a 

 pen or tied by itself, as they injure each other 

 by bunting and sucking. If any one doubts 

 it, let him stand among half a dozen calves 

 about two months old after they have been 

 fed. They should also be kept where there 

 is plenty of light, and have bedding enough 

 so as to be dry and comfortable. 



Those who keep cows to sell milk, may be 

 benefited by a word in regard to the practice 

 of a gentleman in Springfield, Vt., a practical 

 as well as book farmer, who sells milk and 

 still raises calves from his thoroughbred Dur- 

 ham cows. He gives them milk four weeks, 

 when their diet is changed to oil meal gruel, 

 made by putting at the rate of one pound of 

 oil meal to fifteen of water, and boiling half 

 an hour, giving about this quantity to each 

 calf twice a day. His calves do well, and as 

 milk is six cents per quart, sixteen quarts 

 would be ninety-six cents ; oil meal at 3^ cents 

 per pound, costs 6i cents per day. If, how- 

 ever, milk was fed it probably would be 

 skimmed milk, which would reduce the ex- 

 pense. I could fill this sheet with names of 

 men who have raised good large calves upon 

 a mixed diet of skimmed milk, hay tea, or 

 gruel of different kinds of meal. z e. j. 



Irasburg, Vt., March, 1870. 



For the New England Farmer, 

 DAIRY, DUTCH CATTLE, SHEEP, &c , 

 Of Thomas Baker, Barton, Vt. 



Some time since I sent you a statement of 

 the method by which the butter was made that 

 drew the first and second premium at the fair 

 in 1869 in Orleans County, Vt. 



I recently called at Mr. Baker's to see his 

 Dutch cattle and learned from him that 150 

 pounds of butter and 100 pounds of cheese 

 were made to each cow in 1869, besides rais- 

 ing eight half blood Dutch calves, and fatten- 

 ing several for the butcher, and fattening 

 hogs with sour milk. For twelve years Mr. 

 Baker has sent his butter to C. Jarvis, 21 

 Leverett St., Boston, where it has been retailed 

 to customers at a better price generally than 

 has been paid by dealers for country butter. 



