The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1876-11-29
Fall Treatment of Calves i'm the Dairy.


Calves require special treatment at this
season of the year. Grass begins to depre-
ciate in nutritive value when the first frosts
ocnur, and as cold weather approaches, calves
not unfrequently run down thin and weak
and are not prepared to meet the rigors of
winter. There is no season of the year when
extra care and feed are more needed than in
the fall before the animals go into winter
quarters. Calves require to be kept in a
thrifty, growing condition, and if checked in
their growth during fall for want of proper
nourishment they will be apt to fall sick in
early winter, and then can only with great
difficulty be kept alive. Winter is very
unfavorable time to resuscitate weak and
sickly animals, and it is always better to
guard against this trouble by care and good
feeding during fall, for calves that are not
allowed to lose flesh and become weak at
this: season will, with fair treatment, 90
through the winter without trouble. 1t is
well then to commence feeding calves a little
grain or ground feed, pumpkins, the tops of
turnips, beets and carrots when grass first
begins to fail. Oats, either ground into meal
or in the grain make good food for calves,
and it is of advantage to teach them to eat
extra food of the kind named at the time sug-
gested, because later in the season they may
be more dainty in their appetite, especially if
sick and debilitated.
Calves when brought to the barn in the
fall ought not to be run indiscriminately with
larger and older animals, because they often
receive harm by being hooked and showed
about by the vicious members of the herd.
They are often deprived also of their due
share of food and in consequence fall away
rapidly.
If whey or skinned milk can be had from
the dairy they will make good feed, and
little oil meal, say pound to each animal,
cooked and made into cruel and added to
the milk or whey, will greatly add to this
kind of ration. In raising stock for the dairy
1t is desirable that the animals be taught
early to eat all kinds of slop and that they
get an abundance of succulent food, as by
these means the capacity of the stomach is
enlarged and milk secretion is promoted. 1t
is important that calves make a continued
growth during the first year, for if they are
not stunted during that period they will be
likely to "come in milk'' when two years old
and our experience in growing stock for the
dairy goes to show that the best cows for
milk, other things being equal, are those
which drop their calves as early as the time
named. But in addition to the greater milk
habit of animals coming in at two years of
age there is the increased profit TO the farm
er, since the milk yielded during the follow
ing year will be more than sufficient to pay
the cost of keeping, lwhile. the animal looming
in milk" one year later adds in her keeping
very considerable extra expense.
In conclusion it may be proper to remark
that calves in the fall should be sheltere
from the cold storms of rain and seet incl
dent to that season of the year. This is an
important item in fall management and one
which is quite too often overlooked and neg
lected. Animals of tender age that are al
lowed to lie out at night exposed to drench-
ing rains mingled with sleet and snow not
unfrequently contract colds which lead to ills
that impair the constitution, and in this way
the stock becomes weakly and possessed of
less endurance than they would have if
properly cared for when young.
The raising of 'deep Mixers and prof.
able stock for the dairy does not depend al
together upon breeds. The animals must be
properly fed and cared for from the start.
The raising of dairy of stock should not be
left to chance but should receive careful at
tention, guiden in all its branches by thought
full foresight and inteligences.-Rwal NeaO
Yorker.