Sacramento daily record-union., 1883-09-26

Professor Henry, of the Agricultural
College in the University of Wisconsin,
recently issued bulletin giving results of
experiments made at the State expert.
mental farm, in which the value of sweet
skim milk as food for calves and pigs
is considered, the part relating to calves
being as follows
Daring the present summer three grade
H1lstein calves have been fed skim milk
with q" old process oil meal and a little
wnole oats. The oil meal was fed with
milk and was prepared by scalding with
water IN wooden pail. To the pudding
thus made Of the meal was added the milk
which was always warmed TO 80 degrees be-
fore feeding, The oats were placed in a
box IN the calves stall, where the calves
soon learned to eat them.
a heifer calf, dropped January %, 1858,
was fed sixteen pounds Of milk with a
little meal twice a day from June 5th
to July 25th. 1t was allowed oats, but
after q time refused to eat them.
The calf was kept in a small pasture
lot and st night in the stable. During
the trial of tifty.one days it consumed
eighteen and one-half pounds of oats, los
pounds of oil meal and 1862 pounds of
milk and gained lib pounds or two and
one-ffth pounds per day.
4 heifer calf, dropped April l, 1888, and
a bull calf, dropped April 221, were kept
In the stable during a trial of the same
length az that noted above. The milk fed
varied with the wants Of the animals from
ten to fifteen pounds twice day, together
with oil.meal and oats. The heifer calf
was unthrifty from birth, and did not
make satisfactory growth. The amount Of
milk consumed by the heller during the
trial was 20S pounds, and by the bull
437, while the two together ate ll3f
pounds Of oil-meal and seventy-eighz
pounds Of oats. The heifer gained eighty
two pounds and the bull 100 pounds in
fifty.one days, gain of one and three
fifths and two and one-third pounds re-
spectiyely per day. The calf fed by itself
made pound of growth for each fourteen
pounds of milk and one pound of oil. meal
fed. The two calves fed together made a
pound of growth for thirteen pounds of
milk, ops. half pound of oil.4esl and one
third pound Of oats.
The calf, born January 22d, weighs to-
day, August 18th, 5l4 pounds, and can
easily be made to weigh 500 pounds when
= year old. This is certainly sufficiently
rapid growth if a good milking COW ia the
object. To keep calf fat is we'll enough
if beef is the ultimate object, but it is in
accordance with nature and the practice of
some o. our most careful breeders of
choice dairy cows to keep the calf healthy
and growing, but not fat. Growing up
with limited amount of food, when ma
turity lie reached and the animal gives
milk the influence of high feeding is seen
in the extra yield of milk, and not in lay.
ing on tat.
The greatest mistake Wisconsin dairy.
men are making to-day is in not paying
more attention to selecting and rearing
calves from their best milking cows. While
shrewd IN selecting and purchasing good
milking animals, they are often care
lessly Indifferent as TO saving any of the
calves Of such COWS, because of the cost
or trouble of caring for them. Thou.
sands OF calves are slaughtered in our
State every year that have in them the Ell.
enents Of as good mixers as most OF
the cows imported from other countries
at large prices.