210 



HOLSTEIN-FRIESIAN CATTLE. 



ures, but successes enough to warrant the undertaking when one desires to 

 improve the herd. 



" I usually allow the calf to nurse the mother a few times, then teach it to 

 drink. For a week or ten days the calf gets nothing but milk, then I very 

 gradually replace the milk with gruel, so that at the end of ten days more very 

 little milk is used. If milk is very expensive it may be dispensed with alto- 

 gether after a few weeks, but I prefer to use a little for several months. 



" To make the gruel referred to I prefer a mixture of equal parts of brown 

 wheat middlings, buckwheat middlings and old process linseed cake meal. 

 Some hours before feeding stir the grain into cold water, stirring thoroughly. 

 At feeding time add warm water to thin, and bring it to the temperature of 

 new milk. I do not give quantities, as they vary so much with the age and 

 condition of the calf. A spoonful of grain to a calf is enough at first, and 

 increase very gradually and watch your animals very closely to see what 

 they will stand. The calves will not look so slick as milk fed calves but they 

 will make just as large two-year-olds and just as good cows. Be particular 

 about the temperature of the gruel and do not overfeed." 



KHODA, No. 434 H. H. B. 

 Milk record, 96 Ibs. 12 oz. in one day; 21,309 Ibs. in one year. Butter record, 23 Ibs. in seven days. 



Ernest Hitchcock, Pittsford, Vt.: 



" I usually leave the calf with its dam for from thirty-six to forty-eight 

 hours. I then remove it and teach it to drink, allowing it to get hungry before 

 making the first attempt. Feed twice per day, about six pounds per feed, of 

 whole milk warm from the cow. The amount will vary somewhat according 

 to the size and appetite of the calf ; better under feed than over feed. Continue 

 this for two weeks. Then feed half skim milk for a week, then all skim 

 milk. Warm the milk for three months, longer in winter. At about ten days 

 old place fine bright hay within easy reach and keep it there. Also teach the 

 calf to eat dry bran, linseed meal, middlings, ground oats or a combination of 

 two or more of these feeds. Perhaps bran and linseed mixed half and half 

 are as good as anything. The calf should eat considerable of this feed by the 

 time it is two or three weeks old. There is little if any danger of its eating 

 too much of this dry feed. The boxes should be kept clean, and don't leave 

 the same feed in them from day to day. After the calf has once learned to eat 

 don't give more than is eaten up clean. I give no gruels of any kind in the 

 milk or out of it and mix no feed of any kind in the milk. Formerly did so, 



