CHAPTER XXI. 



BALANCED RATIONS, FOR CALF, FOR MILK AND GROWING WEANLINGS AND YEAR- 

 LINGSFOR HEIFERS FOR COWS DUE IN THE SPRING FOR MILK, BUTTER AND 

 DEVELOPMENT FOR LARGE COWS. 



The late Prof. E. W. Stewart contributed many valuable suggestions and 

 directions for care and specific feeding of domestic animals to the columns of 

 the Country Gentleman (Albany, N. Y.). He was frequently called upon to 

 suggest rations for Hplstein-Friesian cattle. From a large number of these 

 which were reprinted in the Holstein-Friesian Register from time to time, we 

 have made selections and reproduce them here. They are exceedingly valuable 

 and will be found to comprise rations for animals of all ages and conditions. 



"I would request instruction as to ration for grade Holstein calf five weeks 

 old. I cannot afford to give her all milk, and am anxious to raise her properly 

 for dairy purposes. 



"Does it make any difference with the health of a calf if fed on milk from 

 cow fed with cottonseed meal as a part ration ? J. E. W." 



1. He may feed his grade Holstein heifer calf by using a small quantity of 

 fiaxseed jelly and fine middlings in what milk he can spare. Let him boil flax- 

 seed in eight times its bulk of water for about ten minutes, when it will form 

 a thin jelly. Now let him stir in four times as much fine middlings as he has 

 flaxseed, stirring it all together. Let him put about a gill of this mixture into 

 the milk he can spare for the calf at each feed. As the calf grows older, he 

 can increase the quantity of water and middlings the quantity of flaxseed 

 jelly remaining the same. Let the calf be fed three times a day, and have a 

 little bright hay to chew at pleasure. 



2. It will make no difference with the health of the calf that the cow is 

 fed on cottonseed meal as a part of her ration. But cottonseed meal should 

 never be given to calves ; it is too concentrated food for their young stomachs. 



" What is best to feed Holstein-Friesian calves besides hay to make them 

 grow six and seven months old ? O. P." 



O. P. may compound the following : 5 Ibs. cut hay, 2 Ibs. wheat bran, 2 

 Ibs. wheat middlings, 1 Ib. O. P. linseed meal. The cut hay should be moist- 

 ened with hot water, then, after mixing the bran, middlings and linseed meal 

 together, mix this with the warm moistened cut hay. It is then ready to feed. 

 This is a combination of food and not a ration per head, although each calf will 

 eat about this amount per day after a few weeks. The calves should be given 

 what they will eat of it twice a day. Wheat bran is perhaps the best single 

 food to grow the bones and frame of calves, but middlings is also a good food 

 for that purpose, as is also linseed meal. These three foods combined with hay 

 in that proportion make a model ration for growing calves of that age. The 

 feeder has much to do with the success of a ration in feeding calves. He should 

 watch carefully the wants of each calf. They will not eat the same every day, 

 and care should be taken not to feed too much. The only improvement that 

 can be made on this combination of food for the most rapid growth of calves 

 would be to use a little cheap molasses in the hot water to moisten the cut hay. 

 This would give them a strong appetite for their food, and would therefore 

 increase their growth. But with careful feeding they will grow fast enough 

 without it. These calves should be fed at the same time each day. 



"I have twenty Holstein cows, weighing 1,000 Ibs. to 1,100 Ibs., on my farm 

 in Orange County, Va., and a number of yearlings and weanlings of last spring. 

 I have abundance of corn ensilage, stover, ground oats and corn and cob meal. 

 Will you oblige me with a proper ration for these several classes of animals out 

 of the material mentioned ? J. P. T." 



J. P. T. may combine the following foods as a general ration for his Hol- 

 stein cows : 40 Ibs. corn ensilage, 5 Ibs. cut corn stover, 5 Ibs. ground oats, 4 Ibs. 

 cob meal, 3i Ibs. cottonseed meal. The nutrients of this are shown in the follow- 

 ing formula, in pounds : 



(169) 



12 



