Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1911-05-26
CARE OF DAIRY CALVES.

prepared very complete set of direc-
tions which should be used in guiding
the dairymnan in caring for his calves
to the best advantage.
One of the weak points of dairying
is the usually unsatisfactory condition
of the growing dairy calf. The pot
bellied, unthrifty calf so often met
upon dairy farms is really, travesty
upon the industry There is no ex-
cuse for this. If proper methods are
employed, excellent calves can be
grown upon skim milk. Care, how
ever, must be exercised from the time
of birth; even before birth careful
preparation should be made for this
event. Every dairy barn should be
supplied with one or more roomy,
well-lighted, well-ventilated box stalls.
Shortly before the cow is expected to
freshen she should be placed in box
stall that has previously been thor
oughly cleaned. If this stall has been
much used as hospital stall it should
not only be thoroughly cleaned but dis
infected as well. For this purpose a
two per cent solution of Creolin, or
one part of corrosive sublimate to two
thousand parts of water may be used.
Use clean straw for bedding. Permit
the calf to remain with its dam for
about twelve house, after which take
the cow to her regular stall and allow
the calf to remain in the box stall for
few days if the stall be not needed
for other purposes. 1t is considered
not good practice to allow the calf
to remain with its dam longer than
twelve or twenty-four hours. By
leaving calf with a heavy milking
cow for alonger period than this it is
liable to cause serious shrinkage in
milk production. About six hours af-
ter taking the COW away, milk her out
clean and give the calf not to exceed
three pounds of this freshly drawn
milk.
1t is a good plan whenever practic-
able to milk the COW three times day
for few days and give the calf about
three pounds of the freshly drawn
milk at each milking. For the first
week the calf should be fed three
times daily and the whole milk should
be continued until the calf is three
weeks old; after this substitute from
one-half pint to one pint of skim milk
for the whole milk. In about a week
or ten days the calf should be getting
all skim milk. The change should be
made very gradually. Even at this
age unless the calf is very large and
thrifty it should not be fed more than
10 or IL pounds of milk daily. The
skim milk should be fed at blood tenn
perature and sweet. Milk directly
from the separator while it is yet
warm is the best to feed. Feed also
from perfectly clean vessels. Un-
!'clean milk pals are the skim-milk
calf's greatest foe.
AS the calf grows and develops the
milk ration may be gradually increas-
ed until from IL to even 20 pounds per
day may be fed. The latter quantity,
however, is the maximum. In fact
the calf should be watched closely and
upon the very first appearance of
scours or a tendency to bloating the
quantity of milk should be Immediate
ly reduced.
Keep the calf in clean pen that is
frequently cleaned out and bedded
with bright straw. A calf stanchion
should be constructed so that each calf
in the pen can be fastened in sepa-
rate stanchion while being fed. Con-
struct it with a trough in front which
may be utilized in feeding grain.
When the calf is from two to four
weeks old it will manifest a desire to
take some solid food. Nothing is bet
ter at first than equal parts of bran
and whole oats. Feed a very little
of this Immediately after giving the
milk and while the calf is still con-
fined in the stanchion. After a little
when the calf eats the grain readily
the bran may be omitted and whole
oats given. This is one of the very
best grain rations for calves for sew
eral reasons First, oats are rich in
fat, which takes the place largely of
the butter fat in whole milk; the
chewing of the oats assists in the de-
velopment of the masseter muscles:
the hull of the oat stimulates the de-
velopments of the rumen and in a me-
chanical way assists in the digestion
of the casein.
A rack should be provided in the
pen SO that hay may be fed. The best
cured, brightest hay should be selec-
ted. A mixture of clover and mead
owgrasses is probably the best calf
hay, but vetch and oats, or alfalfa,
are also good. 1t is an excellent plan
to supply little kale, roots or silage.
Succulent food in some form is very
essential for the health and thrift of
growing calf. The method outlined is
for the winter management of the
calf. A spring calf should be fed in
the same manner, but allowed to have