The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1899-07-14
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CARE OF CALVES.
Valuable Suggestions From the
Kansas Experiment Station.
BY Professor o. Il. Otis.


Sterlized skimmilk is good for scours.
The calves at the Agricultural college
that receive sterilized milk are less
subject to scours and recover more
readily when attacked. The heating of
the milk seems to produce chemical
changes that help to prevent scours
and at the same time enable the feeder
to keep the milk in good condition.
Milk delivered at the creamery con-
tains large numbers of Tactic acid germs.
Unless these are destroyed by steriliz-
ing, the skimmilk will sour in few
hours. When sterilized and cooled to
the temperature of well water, skim
milk may be kept sweet from 80 to As
hours. Feeding sweet milk at one meal
and sour at another is very apt to cause
scours and stunt the growth of the
calf.
The stomach of calf is delicate and
sensitive, and any change of feed should
be made gradually Do not change
from whole milk to skimmilk faster
than a pound a day, allowing from ten
days to two weeks for the change Be
fore turning ON pasture in the spring it
is better to feed little green feed and
gradually increase the amount until
the limit of the calf is reached; other
wise the calf may suffer severely from
scours by the sudden change to pasture.
Several complaints have reached us
about skimmilk intended for calves
securing, even when placed in tubs OF
cold water as soon as received from the
creamery. Sterilized skimmilk will not
sour until it is cooled to about blood
temperature. A can of hot milk will
warm tub of water to about that
temperature, and as the N TX is cooled
at the same time the best of conditions
are offered for the development of Tactic
acid germs. The tub of water only
helps to keep the milk at blood tenn
perature Under such conditions the
water is worse than nothing. If hot
skimmilk is cooled in tub, it should
be done by running water. A much
better way would be to use cooler and
then place the can of milk in tub of
cold water in order to keep it COOL
Don't overfeed Calves are very
greedy at feeding times, and there is
often great temptation to give more
milk than the calf can properly handle
thus causing it to scour. Overfeed-
ing is undoubtedly the main reason
why SO many farmers are unable to
raise good, thrifty calves on skimmilk
AT the college we find that calves from
8 to months old will not stand more
than 19 to 20 pounds daily per head;
from Z to 8 weeks old, 4 to IS pounds,
and to weeks, 10 to 10 pounds. One
quart equals two pounds.
Kafir corn meal is proving an excel
lent feed for young calves at the Agri-
cultural college. 1t is constipating and
aids materially in keeping calves from
securing. They commence to eat the
meal when 10 days to 2 weeks old. AT
first a little of the meal is placed in
their mouths after drinking their milk,
and in short time they go to the feed
boxes and eat with a relish. Our herd
of 10 calves, averaging 8 weeks old,
consumes two pounds daily per head.
Never put corn, Kaffir corn meal or
any other grain in the milk for calves.
The starch of corn has to be changed to
grape sugar before it is digestible.
This change only takes place in the
presence of an alkali and is done chiefly
by the saliva of the mouth. When corn
is gulped down with the milk, the
starch is not acted upon by the acids Of
the stomach, but remains unchanged
until il comes in contact with the
alkaline secretions of the intestines.
With hogs the stomach is small and the
intestines are long. This allows starchy
matter to be digested in the intestines.
The opposite is true with the calf, the
stomach being large and the intestines
short. Unless the starchy matter is
largely digested by the saliva of the
mouth complete digestion will not take
place in the intestines, and the calf
scours.
Flaxseed meal and Blachford's meal,
made into jelly or Cruel, are good to
mix with skimmilk to take the place of
butter fat. Oilmeal is frequently used
for this purpose; but, like skimmilk,
it has large amount Of fat removed
and is not as good as meal with the fat
in.
Calves like fresh water. Any ar
rangement like the Dewey hog waterer
that will keep clean, fresh water before
them all the time is the best way to
supDlv il. Our calves drink between
seven and eight pounds daily per head.