Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1884-02-01
The Calves:

1t either pays to raise calves, or else
our live stock business is not as pro.
ductive OF the aggregate profits as we
are wont to claim. II calf can moi
be raised at prOfit-which some claim
then somebody is losing. for some
body must raise the calves. That ii il
profitable Is well enough attested By
those who practice 1t. Men who are
close fgurers in their business find the
raising OF calves sufficiently profitable
to make it satisfactory. Where an op.
posite opinion prevails there are two
reasons for it; either the milk Is -.
teemed so yaluable-a part of the too
common short-sighted policy which
looks wholly to immediate gains that
the owner of the cow can not even rs
much as permit the few DAYS during
which it Is absolutely unfit for human
food to pass without using it, or else
there is an utter neglect to consider the
value of the calf at all The young
animal in either case is considered
rather burden than otherwise, and
one that Is to be got rid of just as soou
as the butcher will buy it. 1t may be
well questioned if it is an estab-
lished fact that the practice
OF taking the calf from the COW,
even for the purpose of making bttt'
ter and cheese, is profitable at all. 1t is
certalh that there is a steady and re-
munerative demand for mich cows.
Nothing sells more readily than a good
mich COW. 1t would seem TO be policy,
therefore, to raise them, and the safest
way to do so. is upon the mother's milk
They may be raised by hand, aud come
out all right. but there are defined dan
gers 10 threaten success. Now one
! good COW will suckle two calves, If she
has good pasture, aud weaving the
| calves Mt Il rec or four months old, she
will not only likely make the raising OF
the two calves perfectly successful, but
she will then have long time before
her during which her milk can e used
for other purposes. There is no other
food than can perfectly take the place
OF milk as food for the calf. 1t contain.
| Just what the system needs. Still we
do not suppose that anything we might
say would induce those who are in the
habit of substituting other foods for the
milk To change their practice: and we
do not wish 10 say anything TO produce
such result. We have only called at
tention to the doubt that may reason.
ably exist as to the profit of taking the
| calf away from the cow Of course we
recognize the fact that milk is the NEST
| expensive food, and we are free To adj.
nit that our opinion is that it is more
| profitable 10 raise the calf on arti.
/ fetal food. Our pract &C is TO let the
calf run with the COW for about ten
days, and then put il upon SKINNED
milk, which i'm short time may be fed
alternately with other suitable foods.
/ Crushed or ground oats are the best
food next TO milk. and if, when feeding
| the skinned milk. it be scalded, and
some oatmeal added, it will be excel
lent. And if the calf is taken from tn,
cow at once give it handful of salt
which acts as purgative TO cleans,
the stomach, an office which the first
milk Of the COW performs repeating
the administration of the salt for severa,
days, and prepare its food by boiling 8
! pint OF flaX-seed in five quarts of water.
weakening il with hay-tea until il j:
pretty nearly as thin as milk. Feed al
the temperature of milk when first
drawn from the udder. Indian meal,
I barley, rye and oatmeal can be added
As the calves become older In all arti
fetal feeding the effect upon the bowel:
must be carefully watched, and any baC
effects Immediately counteracted. Il
should be allowed access to good, sweet
short pasture as soon as it will eat it
1t is important that in hand-feeding il
should have something besides skin
milk. Such milk is not perfect, anC
consequently it is not complete food
and the calf should not be fed exclusive
ly upon milk even directly from the COW
for milk alone does not properly distent
The stomach Western Rurdl.