Litchfield enquirer., 1859-05-05
RAISING CALVES.

cows bear good price-that is when we rear good oxen and good COWS. We are now too dependent on {. the far West" for neat stock and hogs. We ought to raise enough to regu- late the markets and not depend on distant droyers what prices are to be demanded We learn that more attention is now paid to the rearing of calves, though butter and milk are still in demand-butter quite as high as it has been for years past. sV.sa
 Dairy farmers are generally disposed to turn off young calves, with poor milk, sour milk, and no milk, when they have but little aud the calves have all the appearance of skim mixers for year or two, till they have learned to take care of themselves, either in the field or at the haymow. Still we think that breed- CTS of stock will succeed better by letting the young suck their own mothers milk till they can stand alone and bear the cartling which the mother loves to give them even before they have tasted the first drawn milk, which is de- signed to give them start in the world. The fashion of taking calf from his mother before he has had time to see her long enough ito know her again." is an old one and as many of our readers are inclined to new modes of farming we may venture to give some advice ln regard to the rearing of cattle
 All now agree that " time is money" there fore we cannot afford to bring up d calf by hand. Some may do this in cases where they have children who have nothing to do but give sour milk and porrdge to the yonug calves. And where this system is strictly attended to, good calves may be raised on very cheap feed. But strict attention is so important that calves reared by hand are usually so poor in autumn that they must have great attention paid to them through the winter in order to make any decent app arance
 We have sometimes recommended the prac- tlce of letting the calf such his mother, till he IS two or three months old This sabtracts somewhat from the milk of the dairy, but we cannot have our cake and money too, and we must judge whether we cannot gain by letting the calf take the natural course for few weeks, even though the dairy milk may be diminished Calves will very soon learn to eat hay. They prefer 1t to grass, aud though we are aware that numerous farmers on weaning their calves, contrive to tether them out in the garden, and in clover lots, where they are petted through the summer at much cost of labor-yet the calves actually prefer nice hay to the richest clover patches they can have-and as hay is to be their chief food through the winter, we in- vite our readers to the practice of keeping calves in the barn through the first summer, aud feeding chiefly ou hay instead of grass.
 We invite trial of this, whether the calf is permitted to suck one week or twelve We are aware of the objection that calves cannot easily be weaned unless they are taken from the COW before they have fairly learned to suck, still we known that this is not the case when they have had fair chance to take something else as we'll as milk.
 A common practice is to tie the calf to stake, and let him wind round it till his bed is too wet to lie on. He has no crib to eat from, and has no chance to learn anything, except to drink poor milk, or poor milk porridge, out of a noggin that is held so as to leave him no op- portunity of choice.
 Calves will begin to eat hay very soon when they have chance. When number of them are to be weaned, they should all be put into one pen united, then the oldest will soon teach the next to eat hay or oats, or meal. The oldest calf is not very ready to eat meal of any kind while he can have his fill of milk. But all young calves will eat loan, and be glad to get it. Now place handful of pure loam on the sill, or in the trough by the side of the pen, and he will eat it greedily, though he may have as much milk as he wants.
 The next move should be to put little meal into the trough by the side of the loam and iH contact with it, and ere long the calf will like the meal as we'll as the loam and all vii! be eaten. Fresh loam from the roadside, or field, is eaten greedily by all calves, and as soon as one has ventured to eat loam and meal mixed together the other calves will follow suit-for We never knew the younger calves in the pen to permit the older to busy himself with his tongue without insisting on being partaker
 in the sport.
 Oat meal is better than Indian for young calves, and they like it better. If they suck half the milk of the mother for two or three months they may be weaned without trouble as they have now learned to eat hay and oat meal. Let them have the first milk that comes, and save all the strippings for the dairy It is seriously contended that the first drawn milk is quite as good for sucking milk as the last would be, called strippings. If so, the dairy man will not so much grudge the loss of that portion of his milk which yields him the least butter, while he carefully saves all the best part for cream.
 We throw out the above as hints only to our numerous farmers of New England. All are not located alike, but all must judge as well as they may of what is applicable to their own locality. Still we venture to urge that calves are kept through the first summer better and at less cost on hay than on any kind of grass ; and that they are more easily kept through the following winter whether they have any grain or not. When calves are turned to grass in the spring they make a poor business in the best of pastures. They are annoyed by lies that hover around them through the whole day and give, them DO leisure to learn how to eat grass.