The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1891-05-07
SKIM MILK FOR CALvES.
The Proper Course for the Rearing Of Goo


The Proper Course for the Rearing OF Good
Mixers.
Mr.. Ralph Allen, of Delavan. ILL.,, one
of the most successful raisers Of calves
in the state, in talk on raising skim
milk calves, held the following: The
skim-milk calf makes great deal bet
ter COW than the calf that is allowed to
suckle the dam will give an instance
OF this from my own experience. A
few years ago I had grade Jersey
cow, and she dropped two calves. which
raised on skim milk. She was an ex-
cellent COW. and the two calves SO raised
made excellent cows also, inheriting
their great milking qualities from their
mother. sold the cow, and the gentle
man that bought her also raised two
calves from her. The first one he was
particularly generous to and Ike her
with the cow. He also fed it new milk
and kept it fat. That calf is now two
years ago, and the owner recently told
me that the heifer was failure. /
saw her only two weeks ago and she
looked like anything but mich COW.
The second calf he ted on skim milk.
and she has the appearance to-day OF
making a good COW.
~ raise my calves for dairy pur-
poses. My manner of raising them is
this: When the calf is day old take
it away from the COW. but do not de-
privc her of the milk of that cow. which
is at that time especially adapted to the
use of the calf. and is necessary to it,
to put its digestive organs in the right
condition. ! feed it on new milk for
thirty days, and at the same time teach
it to eat little corn. At that time |
put it on skim milk. and feed it on that
for six months. The feeding of corn
find to be very essential element in
the handling of skim-milk calves. Our
scientists tell MS that our calves should
be raised on n well-balanced ration.
That is, it should have suitable
amount of carbohydrates and other
food elements. Now new milk is rich
in carbohydrates. and the skim milk
needs corn to restore the carbohydrates
to il. The temperature of the milk Is
another important consideration for the
growing Of skim-milk calves. Itshould
be ordinarily warmed mp to ninety
degrees, and il the weather is cold
it should he warmed up to one hun
dred degrees. If | hal the choice OF
using cold skim-milk for feed, or not
using skim milk at all, would not use
it. hut after the calf is six months
old the cold milk will not hurt it. In
feeding calves each one should be fed
by itself and with it's milk ration
measured out. Some calves will drink
three times as fast as others. and IL
they are fed together some of them will
get too much and others not enough.
For this reason ] have stanchions and
fasten them up when feed the milk.
then turn them loose and feed them
corn right after giving them the milk
because calf always wants to suck
just after finishing drinking the milk
# you do not give them corn or some
such ration they will begin sucking eacl
others ears, and in cold weather some
of their ears will be frozen from being
wet. ] have had several such cases.
The discussion following the address
elected the following facts: The corr
is fed dry and not ground, and from a
box where all the calves can take it a
will. 1t is thoroughly ground down be
tween the teeth, and thus promotes thu
flow of saliva. Begin with a small
quantity and increase as the needs o
the calves require. If corn and oats ar
fed the calves will select the corn. EX
perience with oil meal has not been sat
! isfactory. lad not fed ensilage. bu
calves take kindly to good hay.-Ameri
can Dairyman.