•^^^ Illinois State Dairymen s Association. 



box in the stall some place and begin putting in some feed, the 

 calf will invariably go to that box as soon as he gets through 

 drinking and begin nibbling at the hay. One of the best mix- 

 tures at this time is whole oats and shelled corn. We find the 

 digestive apparatus of the calf has some property about it that 

 makes it possible for him to digest whole corn and whole oats, 

 while in the older animal this is not true. The calf digests 

 shelled corn and whole oats to good advantage, it develops and 

 strengthens the digestive apparatus and I know of no reason why 

 the calf should not receive whole oats and shelled corn instead 

 of receiving them in ground condition. 



Experiments carried on some years ago at the Iowa Ex- 

 periment station demonstrated the fact that corn was more valu- 

 able to feed to the dairy calf than oil meal, because oil meal is 

 rich in protein, so is skim milk, and one does not balance the 

 other up; but when you feed corn with the skim milk you bal- 

 ance up the ration for the calf. Of course there comes a time 

 when you could feed too much corn and you must guard against 

 that. It never does to feed an animal so much carbohydrates 

 as to get it in a fleshy condition and train it to habits we do not 

 care for. 



When the calf begins eating roughage it should be supplied 

 all the alfalfa or clover hay it can consume. Silage keeps the 

 calf in a healthy condition. When we want good blood we go 

 to the old country after it and one reason for that, I am satisfied, 

 is that they feed large amounts of succulent foods; they do noi 

 feed silage over there because they have different conditions. 

 They feed root crops, sugar beets, mangles, etc. Over there land 

 is high and labor is cheap, so they put their labor to work on high 

 priced land, raising roots and raising a lot of them to the acre. 

 Succulent food keeps the animal in a laxative, open condition, 

 keeps the beast in a good, sappy sort of condition the same a* 

 our animals are in on pasture land. In this country we have 

 high priced labor and low priced land and we cannot afford to 

 raise roots here to feed to live stock to the same extent they can 

 there, because they would cost us too much per ton, but as a 

 substitute for the roots we can raise silage and I am satisfied, 

 even with you men in the Elgin district, even if the condensaries 

 will not allow you to feed silage to your cows I do not suppose 

 they will object to your feeding it to your calves, so you will find 



