Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1876-11-03
Fall Treatment of Calves in the Dairy.

Calves require special treatment at this
season Of the year. Grass begins to depre.
ciate in nutritive value when the first frosts
occur, and as cold weather approaches, calves
not unfrequeutly 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 60 into winter
quarters. Calves require to be kept in q
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 can then only with great
difficulty be kept alive. Winter is a very
uniavorabe 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 lit
tie 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 suggested, because later in the season
they may be more dainty in their appetite,
especially if sick and deblitated.
Calves when brought to the barn in the
fall ought not to be allowed to run iAdiscrim-
inately with larger and older animals, be-.
cause 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.mcal, 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, it is desirable that the animals be
taught early to eat all kinds of sop 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 farmer,
since the milk yielded during the following
year will be more than sufficient to pay the
cost of keep, while the animal looming in
milk" ono 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 sheltered
from the cold storms of rain and sleet 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
unirequently contract colds which lead to ills
that impair the constitution, and in this wa,
the stock becomes weakly and possessed o
less endurance than they would have if prop
erly cared for when young.
The raising Of "deep mixers" aud profit
: able stock for the dairy does not depend al
together upon breeds. The animals mus
be properly fed and cared for from the star
The raising of dairy stock should not be left
to chance, but should receive careful attention
guided in all its branches by thoughtful fore
sight and inteligence.-Rurd Ne,o Yorker