The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-02-14

car or any farm animal for that mat
ter gets for the first few months will
largely determine the quality of the
adult animal. Giving the calf a good.
strong, healthy start is one of the
prime essentials of success i'll growing
it.
The calf need not be kept rolling
TAT, but it should be kept thrifty
growing from start to finish.
Except for beef production with the
beef type, it is best to raise the calf
by hand method. When it is a day
or two old take it away from its dam
and teach it to drink milk.
For the first feed take some warm
milk fresh from the COW and place
some with the hand on the calf's
mouth. 1t Will lick this with its tongue
and of curse find thai it is good.
Then place the pail up to its mouth 50
that the warm milk will touch its
Be patient for the first time. It will
require several minutes and possibly
nearly an hour, but when once it
learns what is in the pail and how to
take the food there will be no further
trouble in urging it to eat.
1t may be necessary the first few
times for you to wet two fingers with
milk and allow the calf to suck up the
milk with the hand partly immersed
in the liquid.
Feed whole milk warm from the
COW for about two weeks, and then
! gradually substitute skimmilk for the
whole till at the end of the fourth
nothing but skimmilk is given.
Always warm the milk as it is most
natural for the young animal, and de-
mands less energy from the digestive
organs.
After the third month the calf will
begin to want extra water, and some
may be mixed with the milk.
The calf at this age should be
allowed access to drinking water every
day. AT the end Of four months milk
may be withheld and other feeds sub
stituted, as the calf will hen begin
to nibble on hay and other feeds.
From this stage on place some fine
well-cured and preserved hay where
it can reach it. When it is six weeks
| old give it a handful of shelled corn,
or place some corn meal in the milk
feed.
| elements for animal growth, the re-
moved cream furnishing only material
for fat and heat. Since the cream has
been removed it is well to supply the
| equivalent material in a cheaper form.
Corn and corn meal are carbon
aceous mater, similar in composition
to that of cream, and there is no feed
thai o. Oil 1IhCo 81 "S4A cS IC-1C
or corn meal.
Corn meal is worth 20 TO so cents a
pound while corn is worth only about
a cent a pound, hence the Of
it's use. If corn meal is fed with the
milk it should not be stirred much but
allowed to settle to the bottom of the
pail so that it will have to be eaten
rather than swallowed with the milk.
We have found by experience that
whole shelled corn is as good as the
meal and hat the calf car and will
eat is very rapidly. One value of the
whole corn over the meal is that it
developes h chewing power of the
young animal which is of great bene-
fit to any animal since the finer the
food can be cheWed the better can it
be digested.
Corn will give all the elements for
fat and heat to meet the young grow
ing needs.
While milk is being fed there is no
need Of furnishing the calf any
heterogeneous feeds, but after the milk
is no longer given wheat, bran and
oats will furnish elements for flesh
and other heterogeneous growth.
Clean clover hay. or alfalfa are ex-
cellent at thistime to form a we'll
balanced ration, but Of course a var
iety should be given at all times.
The calf too, likes salt as we'll as
older cows, although a small amount
is necessary.
The hand fed calf intended for
dairy al be made a much
better animal than the one allowed to
feed from the COW in natural
way.
The main reason for this is that
through eating heavier and coarser
food it's digestive organs are enlarged
and siren gthened.
Other things being equal. the
capacity for digestion of a dairy COW
represents her milk-producing power.
With large. strong digestive organs she
is able to assimilate TIC food and
transform it into more valuable food,
milk and butter fat.
Water is cheap. but it is a neces-
sity for sustaining the life the