REARING OF CALVES FOR THE DAIRY. 209 



they want. I never allow spring calves toeat any fresh grass until the second 

 season. I am not troubled with calves scouring, and they are always ready for 

 their feed." 



Frank Roe, Augusta, N. J.: 



" The calves are generally left with their dams until three or four days old, 

 then put in box stalls alone and taught to drink, which they will usually do the 

 second feeding. They are fed morning and evening from three to four quarts 

 of milk from the cow as soon after milking as possible, the quantity depending 

 on size and appetite of the calf, but never give quite all the calf will take 

 as we think it best to keep them a little hungry. Alter the first week hay and 

 feed are put where the calf may easily reach them. 



'* The feed is two parts bran or middlings with one part oil meal. It is 

 always fed dry as it is not so liable to scour the calf as when fed in the drink. 

 Will commence with one teaspoonful each feed, increase to one-half pint each 

 feed by the time the calf is four weeks old. If the feed should scour the calf, 

 reduce the quantity. If it does not get better give one-half teaspoonful of tan- 

 nic acid dissolved with boiling water, with one teaspoonful laudanum twice daily 

 until cure is effected, which will usually be after two doses. This care is con- 

 tinued until about three months old, gradually increasing the feed to one quart 

 daily at this age when the milk is gradually taken off and water substituted, 

 until about four months old, when it will do very well without the milk ration. 

 At all times the stall is kept dry and with plenty of bedding, for nothing will 

 bring on scours sooner than for a calf to lie down in a filthy stall. 



'This is our method, as we sell milk and have no skim milk. If we had 

 the skim milk we would gradually substitute it for the whole milk after the 

 calf was three weeks old, always warming it to about 100 F." 



J. R. Beuchler, Leesburg, Va.: 



" First, we try to get good healthy calves, then let them to the cow three 

 times a day, for, say, fifteen days. They are then taken off from the cows and 

 given skim milk with a little new milk three times a day for the next fifteen 

 days, and after this skim milk alone with a little oil meal in it, at the same 

 time give what hay and ensilage they will clean up over night. After they 

 are one month old we give in the ensilage or cut feed a little mill feed of any 

 kind we are feeding to the cows. In this way we raise good, healthy, robust 

 calves. Find best results by keeping them in the stable all the first summer. 



" For scours in calves a never failing remedy is : 1 oz. of laudanum ; 1 oz. 

 of cannella bark (powdered); 4 oz. of chalk; 4 oz. rain water. 



" Shake well and give three or four tablespoonfuls three or four times a 

 day. Attention for one day will generally cure. In very violent cases give 1 

 to 2 oz. castor oil and one teaspoonful turpentine first. Have used the above 

 over twenty years and never had it fail." 



Hoard's Dairyman gives the folio wing instructions for feeding young calves: 



" We always prefer the ground flaxseed meal to the oil cake for calf feed- 

 ing. The object is to replace the lost butter fat with another fat. That in 

 flaxseed seems to be the best substitute. 



" We commence with a young calf, say a week old, by feeding not to exceed 

 a tablespoonful a day. This is taken and scalded with boiling water, and when 

 ready divided into the several feeds of the day. As the calf grows, we grad- 

 ually increase the amount to six or eight tablespoonfuls a day when the calf 

 is four to six months of age. It must be remembered that the calf is a baby 

 bovine. His stomach for the first four weeks will receive solids only in the 

 right form, and then only in a limited quantity. From four to six weeks of 

 age he takes on the ruminating stomach commences to chew the cud and 

 when that occurs, it is safer to feed more of the solids. Take special care not 

 to overfeed the first four weeks." 



J. L. Stone, Secretary Lackawanna Breeders' Association, Waverly, Pa.: 

 " I have found it a very simple and easy matter to raise good calves when 

 there was a supply of skim milk available, but thousands of farmers ship their 

 milk to city markets and have no skim milk to feed. Very few of these 

 attempt to raise any calves and consequently can dp very little towards improv- 

 ing the character of their dairies. To feed new milk is too expensive and they 

 think they cannot raise calves without milk. I have raised a great many 

 calves with very little milk, and that while they are quite young. I confess it 

 requires a great deal of care and considerable trouble and I have had some fail- 



