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rific ; and tlnis, by compofiricr tlicm to /Ie*p, inereafes their 

 tlirpofitiuii to fatten. But where miik can be had in fiif- 

 ficieiu abundance, it is never worth while to have recourfe 

 to tlufe faftitioiis aids. 'When the demands cf the calf, 

 however, are beyond tlie ability of the cow, theft balls 

 come feafonably to their relief. In order that the calves 

 may be provided with fufficient ilore of milk, the pallures 

 fliould ftill be charged, whenever the cows are found to be 

 delicient in this particular ; and in the winter time, fnch 

 food as is of a fuecnlent nature, as fjrains, turnips, fee. 

 fhould be always at hand to fupply the want of grafs : and 

 thcfe, with a due allowance of the fivestell: hay, fliould be 

 their coullant aliment during the time that the cows are 

 confined to the yard. 



" The prices of fuckling calves vary according to the 

 gooduefs of the young animal, and the time of year wherein 

 the purchafe is made. In general, fucklers fetch tlie largell 

 price in fummer, whtu veal fells the cheapcll ; and the 

 realon of this ariles from the fmaller number to bo met v\i(h 

 at that time than in the fpring. A good fuckler in Lon- 

 don can feldom be bought for less than ^cs., and is often 

 fold for 25s. or 30s. The bulinefs of fuckling was formerly 

 reckoned to turn out to good advantage, when each calf 

 throughout its fattening brought a profit to tlie farmer of 

 three Ihillings a week ; but now ( 1 799) fo confiderably 

 have provifions of every kind been advanced in price within 

 thefe few years, tl:e prolU on the article of fuckling is much 

 greater. 



'• When calves are flaughtered at fix weeks or two 

 months old, the veal is feldom of a gooil colour; nei- 

 ther has the flefh of thefe yoimg calves a tafte equal to 

 that where the animal has been iuftered to live a few weeks 

 longer. To attain both the ends of cdour and liavonr it is 

 necelTary that the calves fhould be maintained with plenty 

 of milk, and regulated under fach management as before 

 direfted, till they arrive to the age of tight or ten weeks, 

 according to the feafon of the year, the more or Icf's kindly 

 llate of the calf, the particular demand of the markets, or 

 other eventual circumftances. In the funimcr feafon, it 

 may be proper to difpofe of them at an earlier period than 

 in the winter; not only on account of their growing away 

 with greater celerity in warm weather, but likewife becaufe 

 of the increafed demand for fmall veal, which is then mofl 

 faleable. During the la(f three or four weeks, blood fhould 

 frequently be drawn from the calf, which will be a likely 

 means towards rendering the veal of a colour delicately 

 white ; a circumffance fo much attended to by the butcher, 

 that he will commonly depreciate fuch calves, which from 

 the appearance of their eyes are likely to die blnck, as 

 they term it, though in other rcfpefts not to be defpifed. 



" Such calves as are fuckled on their own dams will, ge- 

 nerally fpeaking, fatten in a fhorter time than thofe which 

 are afterwards bought in to fupply their places. The iirll 

 obvious reafon for this difference in their favour is their not 

 having been removed from the places where they were firft 

 dropped, and having always continued to fuck the milk of 

 their parent animal, wiiieh muft in all reafon be fuppc fed 

 of a more nutritious qiialty tj them than that of any other 

 cow. Secoi.dly, tlie cow having i<i lately calved, the ali- 

 ment n')urifh'-s and fattens in a higher degree than when 

 the creature becomes stale milched. Cow calves are ob- 

 ferved to fatten more kmdly than the male or bull calves ; 

 and thefe lall are much more coarfc grained, and their flefh 

 lefs delicate in talle than the former. Calves of the largeil 

 iize are fattened in ElTex, where the bufinefs of fuckling 

 feems to be better u:;derllood, and more properly coiidud- 

 €d than in any other county, and where the farmer keeps 



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the calves to a greater age than in any other part of the 

 kingdom." 



Mr. Marflrill is clearly of opinion, that " to fiickle calves 

 in general after they are ten weeks old is bad management ; 

 fi r his account in this refpedl is uniform — thofe of nine or 

 ten having paid as much a week as thofe of twelve or thir- 

 teen, and although a calf of fix weeks old may fuck nearly 

 as much milk as a calf of twelve weeks old, yet the llrll 

 montli or five weeks the q-.iantity is conliderably Icfs, and 

 this advantage of their intaney is doubly as valuable to nine 

 as it is to twelve weeks." 



In fome dillrifts, barley-me.il, linfced boiled into a kind 

 of jelly, and t"uc}i-like articles, arc given to calves in the 

 courfe of fattening ; but the methods aljovc defcribed arc 

 greatly fuperior, although it mull be allowed that they may 

 fometimes be confidcrablv more expenlive. 



It is of the greateft importance in t'.iis praftice to liave 

 good breeds of cows, to keep them conftantly well fed, and 

 the fuckling houfes airy, fpacious, and perfectly clean from 

 all forts of likh. 



CM.T-pen, a place formed for the purpofe of receiving 

 calves for the praftice of fattening them. 



In moll places it is the culbjiu to have the calf pens an- 

 nexed to the cow-houfes. The only reafon, Mr. Beatfon 

 obferves, in his ufcful paper in the communications to tiie 

 Board of Agriculture, " that he can alTigu why calf-pens 

 (hould be within the cowhoufc is, that it favcs a little 

 trfjuble to tl e da'ry-maid, by having a fhorter dillance to 

 carry the milk. In general, however, it is a plan not to be 

 recommended, as every pcrlon who has had any experience 

 among cows mull know how naturally and how forcibly a 

 new calved cow cxpreffes her attachment to her calf ; with 

 what care and anxiety, if permitted, flie licks it all over, 

 and ufcs every exertion to protect it from injury ; how the 

 tender calf clings to its affedlionate mother, as if fenfiblc 

 that to her alone it can trull for protection : and yet the 

 poor helplefs creature (fays he) is dragged away, and placed 

 perhaps within its mother's view, or at Icall within her 

 hearing, as if on purpofe to augment the pain of her fuf- 

 ferings. Its doleful cries keep alive the pangs of the un- 

 happy cow ; fhe flruggles to break the chain that binds her 

 fafl, and feems relllefs and uneafy whenever approached. 

 In Inch a flate of agitation it is impolTible fhe can cither 

 feed well, or give tiiat quantity and quality of milk fhe 

 would othervvife furnilh. Where there are many cows 

 kept, and perhaps fevcral of tlicm lately calved, a fingle 

 calf may keep them all in this relllefs Hate : to remedy 

 which, the befl way (fays he) is to have the calves at fuch 

 a dillance, or at Itafl I'o thick a wall betwixt them, that the 

 cows cannot hear their cries. The cow will then foon 

 forget her calf, and will both feed and milk the better for 

 it ; therefore they (hould be as near as conveniently may be, 

 without being liable to the above objections. 



" To lie dry and warm is of the greatell confequence in 

 the rearing of calves, as is evident from what lias been al- 

 ready advanced on the fubjeft. Some think it neceffary to 

 accullom a calf to be bound with a halter from the hour of 

 its being calved ; others again turn th. m quite loofc into 

 the pen, and allow them to range and run about as inueh as 

 they plcafe. W'hieh of thefe is the bed method is here of 

 little confequence. The principal thing to, be obfrrved in 

 the conilruftion of calf-pens is the laying of the floor, 

 which fliould be made of laths or ipars, about two inches 

 broad, laid at the dillance of an inch from each other upon 

 joifls, fo as to make the flour above one, two, or three feet 

 from the ground, as the lituation will admit. This not 

 only keeps them quite dry, by allowing all the moiflure to 



pafo 



