FIRST FEEDING 



251 



baby and cannot be anything else until given time to grow. The 

 ridiculous struggles occasionally pictured in teaching the calf to 

 drink exhibit only ignorance on the part of the man. By first 

 backing the little fellow into a comer and then locking his neck 

 between the legs of the feeder, as in a stanchion (Fig. 80), the 

 pail may be held in the left hand; the tips of the fingers on 

 the right hand moistened with milk and inserted into the calf's 

 moiith. At the taste of the milk the calf will commence to 

 ^uek. Then slowly the head may be drawn downward until the 



FlQ. 80. — Inexpensive calf stanchion. (Courtesy Wisconsin Station.) 



milk is reached. The calf then sucks the fingers, drawing the 

 milk between them. When well started the fingers should be 

 slowly withdrawn while the right thumb is held merely on the 

 top of the nose. To be sure, the calf's head may fly up at any 

 instant when the process will need to be repeated. An intelli- 

 gent calf, keenly hungry, will occasionally learn to drink with 

 the first lesson and usually with the second. Almost never will 

 the calf have to be shown more than three times before it will 

 proceed to drink from the pail unaided. 



