The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1876-02-17
RAISING CALVES IN WINTER.

RAISING CALVES IN WINTER.
Increased attention is being paid to
the raising Of calves and it is proba-
BILE that fewer will be "deaconed.'
i. g. killed Immediately after birth,
this year than has formerly been the
case. The New York Farmer gives
interesting and sensible observations
on the best time and mode Of grow
ing calves
Milkmen living near good market
ottsa End it better 70 kill their CALVES
Immediately than to fat them,> even
in the spring, when veal sells readily,
for the milk the calf takes will bring
more before being made into veal
than afterwards. As rule 1t does
not pay milkmen to raise or fat their
calves, or would not if good cows
could be easily found and purchased.
With butter.makers the case is diff.
ferent. They have plenty Of skim.
med milk to be disposed of in some
way, and if they are breeding a good
strain Of dairy stock they may gener-
ally do we'll by raising their calves
either for heir own diaries or to sell
to those less favorably situated for
raising their stock. Nor is it essen
tial that calves to be raised should
all be dropped in the spring. From
our own experience, we are satisfied
that just As good, if not better, calves
can be raised in the fall or winter as
in the spring or summer.
With the few We have raised in
the fall, during the past ten years,
We have had better success than with
those started in spring. With spring
calves, the temptation is very strong
to turn them out as soon as possible.
The stables IRE hot and the flies are
troublesome, and it seems wicked to
keep the little things shut up in close
stables, so they are turned out to be
burned in the sun or chilled by the
evening air when left out too late.
They learn to eat fresh grass which,
with the abundant supply Of milk,
causes sours, and oftentimes the calf
receives a severe check in its growth
BY such treatment. In winter they
may be kept in warm stables with
perfect comfort. The farmer has
more time to feed and care for them,
and they soon learn to eat hay, which
is really better food for a calf that
drinks milk than the best of green
grass.
BY the time spring opens, they
will have become strong and hardy,
and may then be weaned from the
milk gradually and turned off to pas
ture, with full promise of doing we'll
during the summer. Every farmer
who raises calves for his own use can
afford to raise more than he needs,
and then when they come to maturi-
ty he will have something to select
from. This selecting the best and
wedding out the inferior at three or
four years old is one Of the surest
methods that can be adopted for
building up herd Of cows that one
will be proud Of, and, if they are
started we'll and kept thrifty all the
time till four years DID,, they will
make nice beef in a very short time
on grain and grass, or good hay, for
cattle fat great deal more readily
at that age than when ten or twelve
years old.
To the habit acquired by breeders
of fancy stock of raising everything
that has pedigree, whether promis-
ing or otherwise, is undoubtedly due
much Of the prejudice against blood
ed stock felt by those common
farmers who have been induced
to invest in q small way by
buying some third or fourth rate ami
NAL from pure bred herd-an ami
NAL that ought to have gone to the
butcher, instead of being allowed to
60 out and cast reproach upon the
breed which it but poorly represents.