The Medina sentinel. [volume] (Medina, Ohio) 1888-1961, 1915-12-31
FEEDING and CARE
OF DAIRY HEIFERS
continued from December 17)

l,s;sass M;lhs SSuhstitntes-Whole mix VIII
produce the best calf and whole milk
followed by skimmilk, the second best;
but butterfat at present prices IS too
valuable to justify its use for feeding
after the calf has good start in life.
Even skimmilk is not available, # all
the milk is sold from the farm. Under
such circumstances, the problem OF
raising good heifers to replace the
cows as they cease to be useful be-
comes an important and somewhat diff
ficult one. Frequently the milk fed
would have brought more money than
the calf at weaving time. For this
reason many calves have been destroy
ed at birth and any not worth raising
are rightly destroyed.
In raising calves, one should not
weigh their cost at weaving time
against their market price at that
time because they are worth more. The
milk period is the most expensive per-
iod of feeding until the heifer is two
years Of age. Up to four months of
age, heifer will cost one-half as
much as to one year of age. The cost
for the second year is usually less
than for the first year, because cheap
er feeds can be used and less labor is
required.
If some feed can be found which will
successfully take the place of milk
from the time the calf is to 10 days
old, and which is materially cheaper
than milk, great service will be rem
dered to the dairy industry. Some
experiment stations and a good many
other persons have experimental along
this line but no really satisfactory feed
has yet been discovered. There are
feeds on the market that are fairly
satisfactory after the calf has passed
the greater part of the milk period.
They are usually good supplements
rather than substitutes. The best of
these contain milk powder which is
expensive.
Hay Tea. At the Kansas station,
an attempt was made to use hay tea
as substitute for milk, but the re-
suits were not favorable. Two kinds
of tea were used; one from mixed hay
and the other from alfalfa hay. The
tea from the mixed hay proved better
than that from the alfalfa hay because
the latter produced securing which was
difficult to control. 1t seems best to
advise against any attempt to raise
calves in this way.
At the Pennsylvania experiment
station the following rations were
tried: No. 1 consisted of wheat flour
80 1bs., cocoanut meal rs fbs., "nutri-
um" 20 lbs, linseed meal 10 lbs, dried
blood 2 lbs. No. 2 consisted of corn
meal 13 fbs., nutrium 20 fbs., dried
blood 2 fbs., flour 80 fbs., cocoanut
meal 6 fbs., oat meal 6 lbs, flaxseed
1.5 lbs. The calves were fed whole
milk until Z to 10 days of age, after
which time they were gradually chang
ed to calf meal. No milk was used
after the calves were over IA to 18
days of age. They grew to be good
thrifty calves at to 5 months of age.
AT this time they weighed from $50
to ESQ pounds. The objection to these
meals is that they contain skimmilk
In the form of powder which is ex-
pensive and practically equal to feed
ing SKINNED milk.
In the 18th annual report of the
Massachusetts, station, the following
experiment is reported: Blatchford's
calf meal and ration No. 1 were used.
The calf on the Pennsylvania ration
gained IA lbs. per day up to 51h mo.
OF age. These calves were fed whole
milk until to IA days of age and
some whole and skimmilk until q to
5 weeks of age.
At the Ontario experiment station
test was made with cacao shells and
waste boiled in water. Bran and oats
were also fed. This seemed to be a
talrly good substitute for s!immilk
after the calves were off whole milk.
At the Cornell experiment station a
more extensive experiment was made.
A larger number of calves was used
md the following mixtures were test
ID: whole and skimmilk, skimmilk
powder, Schumacker's calf meal and
5latchford's calf meal. Some blood
neal was used to prevent securing"
they received in all from 1856 to 226
bs. of whole milk per calf. The aver
lge gain per head was as follows: on
Whole milk (202 lbs.) and skimmilk
rave a gain Of 1853 lbs. per day; whole
milk (1S5 lbs.) and skimmilk powder
rave gain Of 1.23 lbs. rer day; whole
milk (226 lbs.) and Schumacker's calf
neal gave a gain of IL lbs. per day;
nd whole milk (2O7 lbs.) and Blatch-
ord's calf meal gave gain of 81 lbs.
'er day. The above shows that by
ar the best calves were obtained from
7hole and skimmilk feeding and the
ext best with the feed containing the
mix powder. The Indiana expert
nent station has reported good re-
ults from the use of the following
1ixture when used with small guam
lty Of milk: equal parts of linseed
il meal, reddog flour, hominy feed
nd blood meal. This summarizes the
lost important experimental work on
lilk substitutes nnhErhod h.. AZ -