The Jasper news., 1909-04-08
Raising the Calf on Skim Milk.

Raising the Calf on Skim Milk.
There was a time when the typical
| Missouri farmer laughed ut the idea OF
raising calves in any other than the
natural way. However, recently the
high price Of land has made it impossible
for any profit to be made raising ctlves
in the good old way Farmers who have
figured carefully on this proposition
have concluded that when land gets
above $50 an acre it becomes impossible
to keep a COW for the chance of calf
! Ten years ago there were but few farm
ers payingeany attention to the sale of
milk and cream. Now there are fully
80, 900 in Missouri that are counting on
this as part of their income. These
farmers are mostly selling cream for
buttermaking purposes, and raising the
calf by hand. There was time when
it was thought that u calf raised on
skim milk must necessarily be stunted
in size, unthrifty in appearance and one
that a respectable farmer would not
wish to have on his place. 1t is well
understood now by most farmers that
are selling cream that such calves are
entirely Unnecessary and 10 fact are not
caused by feeding of skim milk, but
from carelessness and ignorance regard
ing proper methods of feeding
The man who proposes to raise calves
| n oil r11ilif Erot nf nj h,
idea out Of his mind that such calves
are necessarily uuthrifty. He must not
be satisfied with his work until he is
able to raise calf in this manner that
is good as one raised by it's mother.
The feeding Of the calf by hand should
begin at least within three days after
its birth. Some prefer to take the cali
away from its mother before it has nurs.
ed and begin feeding by hand at once.
Others prefer to leave the calf with the
COW from two to four days. They
should not be allowed to run longer than
that on account of the fact that the old
er the calf is, the harder it is to teach it
to drink from a bucket, and the more
the mother is disturbed when it is re.
moved. The calf should be placed out
OF the sight of the mother and allowed
to pass over one feeding period before
an attempt is made to teach it to drink
! 1t is practically useless to attempt to
get calf to drink unless it is hungry
! No special difficulty ia experienced in
, getting the calf 10 drink from pail
The usual method is tn allow the calf tc
suck the finger for short time until ii
: will keep its nose in the pail itself. The
! milk fed should be fresh milk from the
mother fed before it has time TO cool
The calf need not be fed more thar
twice day, although it is somewhat
better il convenient to feed it three
times. The feeding of the mother:
milk should be continued for about two
weeks time, feeding not over three
quarts at a feed or possibly a gallon each
feed to a large calf. AT the end o
about two week, the calf is ready to be-
gin the feeding of skim milk. tits bes
to make the change from the whole mill
to skim milk gradually, using severa
days for this purpose. At the end o
three weeks the calf should be receiving
nothing but skim milk. 1t is very i'm
portant that this skim milk be fresh
y. sweet and warm. The young calf is {
delicate animal for the first two or three
n months of its life and special attention
must be given to keeping the conditions
just right during this time. There i!
=, no ditficultS in raising the calf with per
feet satisfaction, il the necessary pre-
a cautions are observed. 1t will not do t.
think that feeding sour milk or coli
milk or overlooking will not be injuri
Y ous, il it is only done once. A singl
il mistake of this kind may cause th
"a death Of the calf
!. Other points regarding this subjec
will be included in future articles.
i G. H. Eckles.
1t Agricultural College & ExpeI iment SITS
ton, Columbia, Missouri.