The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1913-07-18
THE CARE OF cow AND CALF
By JAMES W.. WILSON,
Department Of Animal H~usbandry,
Bookings, S. @.
College kinq 3e755O.

The above is a picture OF a Short
horn bull calved December 7th, 1912,
produced on the farm of the South
Dakota State College OF Agriculture
And Mechanic Arts, at twelve month
~ age. During the past year we have
kept an accurate record of his daily
feed TO get an idea Of how much 1t
cost the state to produce this calf. He
received just ordinary attention, no
more than hundreds of other bulls
OF this breed and age have received
ny the writer, under ordinary condi-
lions. This calf received his mothers
milk, and because of his age was not
allowed to run with her and the re-
mainder of the herd when she was
turned on grass May 10th. The moth
or is only a fair milk producer. Bull
calves of this age do not do we'll
when turned with the herd in the
spring to fight flies and worry all
Summer. Grazing in the evening
would have been all right for this calf,
but not having a suitable pasture he
VAS kept in the yard day and night.
and the expense of growing is proba-
bly, a few dollars more than it would
have been had we had a good pasture
and two or more of them to have
turned out in hte evening after they
were fed their grain ration.
There is a something" about this
bull hat attracts the lovers of good
cattle. His type as a Shorthorn, his
sire for his age. his character as a
bull. his solid dark red color, all have
a bearing. His horns are not out Of
proportion to his body. This is not
necessary. When calves of this age
have great, big. thick horns it is good
evidence that the calf has been neg
7eetcd. Probably he has lost his milk
fat and an effort has been made to
pot it back on with grain.
The Shorthorn is the most popular
breed Of cattle in the United States.
This popularity must be credited TO
tire fact that as a breed 1t ONE
nearer filing the dual-purpose capacl-
" than any other. The COWS are fair
" good mixers, and when put on the
market make good beef. Now. | don't
claim this breed is as good for milk
production as a breed developed
along beef lines, or as good tor beef
production as one specially developed
along beef lines, but some are extra
good mixers and some are extra
good beef cattle.
believe there is a greater yarla-
ton in type in this breed n whit
any Of the other leading breeds. Hard
lv a square deal toexpect them to be
IS uniform as the Aberdeen Angus or
the Herefords for beef production, be-
cause they were improved In both the
beef and dairy lines.
When this calf was ten days old he
weighed 122 pounds, which was not an
axtr7, large weight fro a calf OF the
breed. At this time the mother
weighed 1,16O pounds. 1t was our IN
,tention to feed her a ration out OF
which she could make milk for the
.salf and maintain her own weight, as
she was not an extra fat cow. we
made a mixture of 200 pounds o. oats,
so pounds of corn, 25 pounds OF bran
and one-tenth as much of the total
nv weight of oil meal. The idea of
adding the bran was to compel more
thorough m%astication OF the grain be
fore swallowing and to furnish pro-
,re;n and mineral mater. In addition
.tc this ration she was fed ordinary
will hay. At this time the COW was
on full feed. or Il pounds per day, and
all the hav she wanted. At the END
.nr thirty days her grain ration was
increased to IA pounds. and at the end
of sixty days she was receiving 10
pounds. as the calf at this time had
learned to eat grain. When h calf
was sc days old he was fed in a sep
.arate box, beginning with Q pounds
OF the same mixture and gradually in
.creasing, giving him all he would eat
after he had sucked his dam.
On May 10th, the COW Wasturned
10 grass and was brought in morning
and evening to nurse the calf. Her
grain ration was gradually reduced
and that OF the calf increased. At
this time the mother weighed l,134
md the CALI 554. The calf was now
sSva months old. The next month he
Vas fed alfalfa hay in place Of the
Wild hay. and on the 18th Of July his
Dain ration was changed to one-third
cats. tWothirds corn and one-tenth Oil
meal by weight. On August LIST Bro
.~ns inermus hay was substituted for