ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 23 



that is produced from a profitable cow cannot be raised and the 

 commercial product of its mother realized on if the dairyman 

 would give this subject more attention. And you, brother dairy- 

 men, what proportion of your calves are you raising? How are 

 you keeping up your herd ? W^hat kind of a bull are you mating 

 your cows with? Have you looked up his ancestry? Do you 

 know what the records of his dam and granddams are? Or are 

 you just breeding to any old scrub bull you happen to get hold 

 of? Well, perhaps the calves from that kind of breeding are 

 better knocked on the head, and it is almost a disgrace to think 

 of eating that kind of veal. But, as I said, there is no reason 

 why this state of affairs should exist at this day and age. A 

 little judgment and enterprise on the part of the dairyman could 

 alter all these things. Just think how much more you would 

 think of your cow and how much more you would consider her 

 worth if you knew that her mother was a profitable cow and her 

 sire was from the stock that had records you were proud to tell 

 about. Of course it goes without saying — attempt to raise only 

 the calves from the most profitable cows, and the scales and the 

 Babcock test is the only way to determine that. 



I don't know of any better way of telling how to handle the 

 dairy calf than to tell how we have been raising from 50 to 75 

 per year for the past fourteen or fifteen years at Sedgeley farm. 



About a week before the expected arrival of our dairy calf 

 the cow is placed in a roomy, well lighted stall and allowed to 

 become familiar with the surroundings and attendants. She is 

 groomed and cared for the same as she will be after calving. 

 The calf is allowed to stay with its mother about three days, 

 when, if all goes well, it is taken to another barn, and that is the 

 last it ever knows about that mother. At its new abode the calf 

 is taught to use the " calf feeder " (a tin bucket with a rubber 

 nipple in the bottom, with which I presume you are all more or 

 less familiar). The feed is the same as it had from its mother 

 at first; warm, whole, fresh milk. The readiness with which 

 the healthy, well nourished calf takes to this new mother is sur- 

 prising, and right here is where more than two-thirds of the 



