CALF FEEDING 219 



fat in whole milk. With butter fat at 25 cents per pound, 100 

 pounds of grain (worth $1.00 to $1.50) will take the place of 

 $12.50 worth of butter fat, and at 30 cents for butter fat it will 

 take the place of $15 worth of butter fat. Feeding whole milk or 

 poorly-skimmed milk to calves is, therefore, a very expensive and 

 wasteful method, since skim milk, with only a slight fat content, fed 

 with grain feed, will produce almost as good results. 



Attention has already been called to the fact that whole milk is 

 of special value for feeding children and young animals, on account 

 of its content of growth-promoting vitamins (p. 24). Milk is an 

 ideal food and, in fact, is indispensable for successful rearing of 

 children and young animals; there is no food that can wholly take 

 its place for this purpose. On the score of economy it is, however, 



Fig. 42. — Calvea in stanchions in pasture. ("Productive Farming," Davis.) 



generally advisable in feeding young animals to gradually substi- 

 tute other dairy feeds for it, especially skim milk or buttermilk. 5 



Skim Milk. — The value of skim milk and other dairy by- 

 products for calf feeding has already been considered (p. 207). 

 After the second or third week skim milk may gradually take the 

 place of whole milk, the proportion of the latter being slowly de- 

 creased and that of skim milk increased until after a week or ten 

 days the calf will be getting only skim milk. This is fed warm and 

 sweet, and is most conveniently fed fresh from the separator. The 

 foam of separator skim milk should always be skimmed off before 

 feeding the milk to calves, as it tends to cause digestive troubles 

 and bloating; colic and scouring resulting in death may follow in 

 aggravated cases, if this precaution is neglected. A calf may be 

 fed from 10 to 12 pounds of skim milk daily in three feeds until 

 about six weeks old, when the amount may. be increased to 16 

 pounds or more, if he can handle it without scouring, and this is 

 given in two feeds, one-half at each meal. 



"Hoard's Dairyman, 1917, p. 625, et 93q. 



