FORTY-FIRST ANNUAL CONVENTION 313 



and have a tendency to produce scours. After a calf is two or three 

 months old it will do much better on alfalfa, and will eat a great 

 deal more of it than of the mixed hays. If alfalfa can not be 

 had at this time, good clover or cowpea hay should be fed. If 

 the calf is on pasture it will not be necessary to feed any hay. 



The Calf Needs Water. 



Clean, fresh water should be provided for the calf at all 

 times. Many feeders assume that the calf does not need water 

 on account of drinking milk. It will consume a large amount of 

 water even after drinking fifteen or twenty pounds of skim milk 

 per day. 



After the calf is weaned from milk the grain ration should 

 be somewhat changed. The object in forming a grain ration for 

 any growing animal is to feed it bone and muscle-forming feeds. 

 The grain ration at this time will depend upon the kind of rough- 

 age fed. If alfalfa hay is used the calves will do well on a ra- 

 tion of corn alone, or mixed corn and oats, or corn and bran. If 

 mixed or prairie hay, cane or corn fodder is fed, the grain ration 

 should be changed somewhat. More nitrogenous foods, such as 

 bran, linseed-oil meal and cotton-seed oil meal should make up the 

 grain ration. If the calves are stunted by lack of proper food at 

 this time they will usually develop into undersized cows. 



Raising Calves Without Skim Milk. 



On many farms, especially those, near the larger milk mar- 

 kets, the whole milk is sold from the farm. On such farms the 

 problem of feeding calves is a more serious one. Here the calf 

 must be raised on the minimum quantity of milk, and this is usu- 

 ally whole milk. Some farmers solve the problem of raising 

 calves by letting two of them nurse one cow. Often there are 

 cows in the herd that are hard to milk, and such cows are turned 

 over to the calves. In such cases only the very best heifer calves 

 are raised. Where there is ready market for the whole milk it 

 is a losing proposition to feed whole milk to a calf that will finally 

 sell on the market for veal. 



