REARING OF CALVES FOR THE DAIRY. 213 



farmer to pursue, if he has a clear case of this disease, is to bury the calf at 

 once, the sooner the better, at least unless it is an unusually valuable calf. I 

 don't believe a calf a day or two old attacked by the genuine white scour is 

 worth fussing with. I have never seen any explanation of the cause of the dis- 

 ease which seemed to me plausible. To say that it is an outgrowth of simple 

 diarrhoea seems to me much like calling tuberculosis an outgrowth of a com- 

 mon cold. Such calves as my first one have been called living abortions, but I 

 fail to see that that throws any light upon the subject." 



Major Henry E. Alvord, of the United States Department of Agriculture: 

 "Among dairy cattle the best practice is to remove the calf from the cow 

 within twenty-four hours after its birth, and at once teach it to drink. This 

 separation may be delayed until the dam's milk assumes its normal condition, 

 but as a rule the earlier the calf is taken in hand and its feeding regulated, the 

 better for the calf. The younger it is, the easier it learns to drink. It is also 

 better for the dairy cow to be milked by hand regularly than to suckle a calf. 

 The milk of good cows is often too rich for their calves, and the latter are apt 

 to take too much if left to themselves. The calf should have the milk of its 

 dam or some fresh cow, and receive it while warm, and at least three times a 

 day, preferably four, for a week or a month. During this time if the milk is 

 rich it should be diluted with warm water one fifth to one-third its own bulk 

 according to the richness, or the milk may be kept a few hours, the best of the 

 cream removed, and then warmed and fed. To make a good calf three feedings 

 a day should be kept up for a month or six weeks, and the milk should be fed 

 warm for a longer period, especially if the weather is cold. But after twelve 

 days milk set twelve hours or so, and lightly skimmed, will do, and after ten 

 days more the skimming may gradually be made closer until at the end of a 

 month, or soon after, a skim-milk diet is reached. No rule can be given for 

 quantity in feeding calves, they differ so much in size^and food requirements. 

 Judgment must be used and the feeding effects observed, and the calf given 

 enough to thrive and be active, but not too much. More calves suffer from 

 overfeeding than from scant diet. Keep the calf a little hungry and eager for 

 more rather than fill it to dullness. The endeavor should be to prevent the 

 beginning of indigestion which leads to scouring and perhaps to fatal diarrhoea. 

 Nothing causes indigestion sooner than the overfeeding or irregularity in the 

 quantity, time and temperature of the milk, especially while the calf is young, 

 and absolute cleanliness about the feeding vessels is essential, with frequent 

 scalding. If it can with certainty be kept equally clean, some feeding device 

 which compels the calf to suck its milk instead of swallowing it rapidly is 

 preferable to the open pail, but, all considered, the latter is usually the best 

 utensil. If gritting the teeth or other symptoms of indigestion appear, a little 

 limewater in the milk or a little baking soda will usually prove a correction . Keep 

 the calf dry and clean and fairly warm, but in pure air, and allow it to exercise. 

 If its box is small, turn it daily into a covered yard or small paddock. Young 

 calves like company, but if kept together are likely to learn bad sucking habits. 

 Every calf had better have its own box until a month or two old, and then be 

 tied up out of reach of neighbors, but several may exercise together if not 

 turned out until an hour after taking milk. The calf here referred to is not 

 supposed to be for veal, but to be raised for a dairy cow. The foregoing treat- 

 ment should be accompanied by early lessons inducing it to eat sweet hay and 

 a little grain. The sooner it learns to eat hay, or other rough forage, the bet- 

 ter; and the more it eats, the better; but keep up milk feeding as long as 

 possible, if only once a day. Grain should be used sparingly, oats and bran 

 preferred, perhaps a little linseed, and always to judiciously supplement the 

 other food. Do not turn it on to grass too soon. If a spring calf, carry it over 

 to the second summer without pasturage. A fall calf will be in good shape to 

 get its own living from pasture its first summer." 



The late Prof. E. W. Stewart (condensed by the editor from "Feeding 

 Animals"): 



"Fresh milk is the best food for the young calf, and the natural method is 

 for the calf to draw it from its dam. This method is only practicable among 

 the breeders of pure bred stock grown primarily for beef, and if such breeder 

 is located where milk is valuable, it is unnecessary that he should feed new 

 milk longer than one or two months. After that period the calf may be fed 

 upon the skim-milk and linseed or flaxseed gruel with excellent results. If the 



