REARING OF CALVES. 
547 
to run about with her tor twelve months. Calves, however 
are apt to bruise the udder and teats, by butting against 
them with their head while sucking. To obviate this, they 
are prevented from sucking by means of a small piece of 
leather, with little sharp iron spikes upon its outer surface, 
and attached to the snout of the calf in such a manner as 
to permit it to feed upon grass, while it will prick the 
udder of its dam, and she will therefore not permit the calf 
to suck her. The cow is only milked twice a day, and it is 
at those times that the calf is permitted to suck the teats 
of one side, while the milkmaid strips those of the opposite 
side; and when she has completed the milking, the muzzle 
is again replaced. 
In the great Yorkshire dairies, calves are hardly ever per- 
mitted suck ; they generally drink the new warm milk from 
a pail. This is continued for two or three weeks, and for 
the next three weeks they are fed upon half new and half 
skimmed-milk. After this, upon skim-milk alone, and even 
sometimes mixed with water, and ultimately with the addi¬ 
tion of a little oatmeal-porridge, until they are able to feed 
entirely upon grass. 
The practice in Cheshire is to allow the calf to suck its 
dam for the first three weeks, and it is afterwards fed upon 
warm whey or buttermilk, to which water is sometimes added, 
with the addition of oatmeal or flour. To every forty or 
fifty quarts of liquid, one quart of meal or flour is con¬ 
sidered sufficient. On this they are fed night and morning 
tor some weeks, and then it is only given to them once a 
day, until they are three or four months old, when they are 
considered able to live entirely upon vegetable food. 
In Gloucestershire, calves are only permitted to suck 
about two or three days, after which they are fed with 
skimmed-milk warmed. When they are able to masticate 
