238 FEEDING ANIMALS. 



per day upon a ration compounded in the same proportion. 

 For the second three months the calves may have good 

 pasture, with what milk can be spared say ten pounds 

 with one quart of oats and one pound of wheat middlings. 

 This will keep them growing steadily and vigorously, which 

 is the only way to make them profitable. Good feeders, on 

 the ration we have given, will reach an average of five hun- 

 dred pounds at six months ; and we do not think it worth 

 the cost to attempt raising a mincing eater. A good appe- 

 tite and good digestion are essential in growing a profitable 

 calf. 



Flax-seed as a small part of the ration for the calf cannot 

 be too highly recommended. It is a natural antidote to 

 scouring, or a feverish condition of the stomach and 

 intestines. Its large proportion of oil renders it so appro- 

 priate to mingle with other food deficient in oil, that it 

 will well repay any feeder to keep a few bushels on hand. 

 It is also excellent to mix in the food of older animals, the 

 details of which will be given in subsequent pages. 



There are many examples we might mention as an 

 encouragement to pursue this system of full feeding upon 

 refuse milk and other food. 



Hon. George Geddes mentions a calf, at Syracuse, K. Y., 

 only 240 days old, that dressed 655 pounds, and must have 

 had a live weight of 875 pounds, though not weighed alive. 



Mr. C, S. Marvin, of Oxford Depot, Orange Co., N. Y., 

 had a calf dropped in October, 1864, afterwards called 

 Uncle Abe, that weighed at birth 134 pounds ; at 90 days, 

 385 pounds ; at 6 months old, 670 pounds; at 1 year, 1,036 

 pounds. But this calf had the milk of his dam, and, after 

 he was some two weeks old, a quart of meal, increased 

 gradually up to two quarts. This steer continued to grow 

 rapidly, and, at 18 months, weighed 1,354 pounds, and, at 

 2 years, 1,616 pounds; at 30 months, 1,830 pounds; at 3 

 years, 2,070 pounds ; and, at 4 years and 5 months, 2,530 



