REARING CALVES.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1523, 20 August 1912, Page 10

REARING CALVES.

A VICTORIAN EXPERT'S OPINION. la building up a good dairy herd, says Mr. A. Kyle, Lmiry Supervisor, in Uio Journal of Agriculture, V ictoriu, there are other things to Ix; considered than tho dam and sire. Provided there are cows and bulls with all the breeding- mid quality necessary for the foundation of a good' dairy herd, great attention must he paid to the offspring if the herd of the future is to be improved. If a heifer when born was ready for milking, perhaps every attention lie shown; but, as eho is not profitable for about three years, she is often-times neglected, or even subjected to very bad treatment, it is aivays well to bear in mind that from poor, halfstarved, pot-bellied creatures the dairy herds of tho country cannot be raised successfully. l!\nv dairy farmers have enough land to enable them to rear nil the calves dropped on a. place, and the males are generally sold for veal, or killed and fed to pigs. Many heifers born should sharetho same, fate,- as they will never mnko good dairy cows, and only take the milk from thoso which Have- all' the milkiiif* qualities desirable. Each heifer rait should be examined as soon as possiblo after its birth, and it is a sign of future inferiority if the teats are small and huddled together. If, on tho other hand, the teats are a nice length, good colour and shape, and well separated, it is indicative of milking and she may be depended on to come into tho bail on calving with a. nice-shaped udder and teats. The Newly-Born Calf. The newly-born calf is usually straightway introduced to the poddy pen, and it is here, in most cases, that trouble arises. It should first bo allowed to suck tho mother dry. This not only provides the calhwith a laxative to clear the digestive organs, but cases tho cow, often preventing after troubles. Caro and patience should be exercised in giving- the calf its first drink from "the bucket; if taken quietly, it can nearly always be induced to drink without oven giving it tho finger. After allowing it to suck the mother dry. leave it in the pen for 24 hours, then, with a little patience, the calf can readily bo made to drink, especially if the mouth is wetted with milk or a littlo milk dropped from tho fingers into the mouth. New milk should bo fed to the calf for the first two weeks in small quantities at frequent intervals; for r the next two weeks, half new and half skim; then skim, with the addition of somo recognised food. The best calves the writer ever saw were fed according to this plan,' and afterwards on skim milk and boiled linseed. Tho linseed was boiled in a kerosene tin, and when cool it thickened to a jolly. A cupful of the jelly was added to the skim milk for each calf. Theso calves,were pictures of health, and the cost of feeding was very, small; thero were no signs of scouring, and their coats were sleek and glossy. One of the most important things in the Tearing of calves is to keep them going, and not allow them to get a check, for every time the calf is thrown back, through scours or other causes, it is a diag on the system, which is hard to make up ero they aro introduced into the milking yard; therefore, every attention should be given to the avoidance of scours and tho like set-backs. A calf, that is bred for the dairy herd, is by and by going to have a big strain on the system, and that system should bo well nourished from the very first, so that all the organs of the body may grow and develop. In serving the feed out, it should bo seen that each calf gets its proper allowance, for, if all are allowed to rush the feed together, the strongest calves get the most; then, agnin, some calves stand sucking, another's ear instead of drinking, and in the end are left without a drink at all. Bach calf, then, should get its- proper allowance, which should always bo out of clean, sweet vessels. The best method of feeding is to construct a set of small bails, and arrange by means of rubber teat attached to stout piping, a system whereby the calf has to suck up its milk, this insures more certain digestion. Failins this, a tin should be provided for each calf (kerosene tins, cut in half, make good buckets for this purpose). Tho attendant can then see that each gets its proper allowance ,and thero will be no ear-sucking; if ear-sucking is resorted to after they are allowed out of the bails, the ears may bo smeared with a solution of aloes. Warm Sheds and Clean Bedding, Good, warm sheds, with clean straw bedding, should bo provided at night. Even if straw has to be purchased clean, it will pay,' as there is a return for the money in manure, in the value put on tho calves, in the prevention of the onset of scour and other filth-induced ailments. The straw should be thrown into the pens about three times a week, and tho whole cleaned out once a week, and stacked for manure. When a calf, properly reared, conies into the bail, it comes in robust, fully grown, and ready to stand the years of milking that are before it; therefore, all the time that is devoted to calves is time well spent, and n. heard of long-milk-ing, strong, and healthy 'cows may he established. A half-nourished calf will grow into a. weedy cow, and in turn bear a weedy calf; hence the great necessity of plenty of attention and proper feeding during the growing period.