The Mobridge news. [volume] (Mobridge, Walworth Co., S.D.) 190?-1917, 1913-07-18
THE CARE OF cow AND CALF
BY JAMES W.. WILSON,,
Department Of Animal Husbandry,
Bookings, S. o.
COLLEGE kinQ 367550.

<O''CSC Ni'S y
The above is a picture Of a Short
horn bull calved December eth, 1912,
produced on the farm of the South
Dakota State College of Agriculture
and Mechanic Arts, at twelve month
of 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
by the writer, under ordinary condi-
tons. 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 18th. The moth
er is only q fair milk producer. Bull
calves of this age do not do well
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
was 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 that attracts the lovers of good
xnft1n II;c tNy,.a &C "a Shnrfhnrn hiG
size 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 moi
necessary. When calves of this age
have great, big, thick horns it is good
lected. Probably he has lost his milk
fat and an effort has been made to
put it back on with grain.
The Shorthorn is the most popular
breed of cattle in the United States.
This popularity must be credited to
the fact that as a breed 1t comes
nearer filling the d%ual-purpose capaci-
ty than any other. The cows are fair
ly 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 for 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 varia-
ton in type in this breed than whit
any of the other leading breeds. Hard
w a square deal toexpect them to be
as uniform as the Aberdeen Angus or
the Herefords for beef production. be-
cause they we're improved in both the
beef and dairy lines.
When this calf was ten days old he
weighed 122 pounds, which was o an
extra 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 or
which she could make milk for he
calf and maintain her own weight, as
she was not an extra fat cow. We
made a mixture Of 200 pounds of oats,
so pounds of corn. % pounds OF bran
and one-tenth as much OF the total
by weight Of oil meal. The idea OF
adding the bran was to compel more
thorough m~astication or the grain De
fore swallowing and to furnish pro-
tein and mineral matter. In addition
to this ration she was fed ordinary
will hay. At this time the COW was
on full feed, or II pounds per day. and
all the hay she wanted. At the end
OF thirty days her grain ration was
increased to ID pounds. and at the end
of sixty days she was receiving 10
bounds, as the calf at this time had
learned to eat grain. When the calf
was so days old he was fed in a sep
arate box, beginning with four pounds
of the same mixture and gradually in
creasing, giving him all he would eat
after he had sucked his dam.
On May 18th, the COW w~asturned
to grass and was brought in morning
and evening to nurse The calf. Her
grain ration was gradually reduced
and that o. the calf increased. AT
this time the mother weighed 1,134
and the calf 554. The calf was nov
five mouths old. The next month he
was Ted alfalfa hay in place OF the
Wild hay, and on the 18th OF July his
grain ration was changed to one-third
oats, two-thirds corr and one-tenth oil
meal by weight. On August LIST Bro
nus inermus hay was substituted iof