FEEDING CALVES.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1589, 5 November 1912, Page 10

FEEDING CALVES.

: ' SUBSTITUTES FOE NEW MILK.': . ''An inquiry was recently , received -in Australia'from England respecting the best substitutes for new milk in rearing calves ■ by hand. The reports received from-the Hawkesbury Agricultural College and .several experiment farms mnke interesting reading for farmers. The Dairy Instructor of the Hawkesbury. Agricultural College.replied as under:—'"At present and for the last nine months only skirnniilk is used ,'as a basis. The n.ilk is pasteurised.\at 180deg. Falir. for ten minutes,. and : : cooled to lOOdeg. before feeding. As a substitute for iat, we use . a jelly made from either (lushed or whole linseed,(the former being preferred as there is less waste. The linseed is allowed to boil slowly (equal parts linseed and water) for about three hours, and the jelly is then fed to the calves in amounts' • varying from i to-J-pint, according to the" age of the calf. In addition'to the milk food, the calves are given roughage ' in the form of lucerne or. oaten chaff, or 'a mixture of both. 'The 'chaff is put in' a, trough where all the calves can get it, and'when they are about three weeks to a month'old, they eat it readily,- and'it seems to overcome to a certain extent' any tendency to scour.". '■ . The Dairy Instructor at the Wagga Experiment Farm reported:—"The calf is left with its; mother for from 12 to 24 hours after birth, : and is then placed in a pen-under cover and bedded with, straw. When the calf becomes hungry, and ready to drink (12 hours after leaving ' the cow), it is fed: with now milk from its mother, fresh and warm; by means of a ciilf-. feeder. For the first' week its mother's milk is fed. The call receives full iqilk : till three weeks old, at the rate of -5 to 61b. of milk twice daily.' The whole :milk is.then gradually; replaced with fresh skim-milk, till at the expiration, of. another fortnight the calf is receiving skimmilk, only. At this stage coconut oil-cake is addted to the milk, using one pound of cake to 1001b. of milk. The cake is pre-, pared by boiling in a gallon of milk till broken down. As,the calf increases .in j size, "the quatatitiesiof Bkim-inilk : and oil- [ cake 'are' increased, : '/calves' 3 to 1 months old receiving 2 gallons of milk and 2 per cent, of oil-cake per day. The froth oh tile "separated milk is taken away by pouring the milk into a vat'with a tap at the bottom, when the milk can be drawn off'without the froth. In addition to milk food, the older calve 3 are allowed mixed feed of wheaten chaffy bran, oats, or boiled barley twice daily after having their milk food, the average consumption being 2oz. chaff, 3oz. bran, and 3oz. grain. If grass is not available, silage and lucerne -hay are provided.' Rock salt, shade and .water are always handy. All calves over three-weeks old are allowed to run in the open paddook during the day, and bedded down at night in-a- comfortable shed. Weaning takes placo at six months old, and if good grass is not available the ■ growth and ;6trength of the calf is maintained with chaff, bran, silag®, grain) and lucerne hay". _

The manager of the Grafton Experiment Fwm says After the third week the calf is on. skim-milk,'to which 'is then added a substitute for the butter-fat. We are at present using molasses—about Soz. per calf to start with, and increased as. the calf grows. Care'is taken that the molasses is not given in excess, in which case it acts severely on the bowels. Coconut oil-cake and maize meal have been used^successfully. "Linseed, after .the bolls have . been knocked off by the peg-drum'thresher; and fed in the dry form,'after the calf has had its milk diet,' seemed to give satisfactory, results. Lucerne hay is always made available to; the oalf from the time

it can'assimilate'it.' Soyghum and maize 6ilage is fed'most during winter and early spring months. Indian cane is about the cheapest form of roughage for oalvei after they are about 3 or 4 months' old. They fatten quickly on it." ■ :The Assistant-Dairy Instructor at the Woolongbar Experiment Farm gives the following treatment:—"Calves up to 3 weeks old receive whole milk,' starting with colostrum, as is'usual. To the sixth week.they are gradually changed, to skimmilk. As a substitute for fat, crushed linseed oake is used, up to Jib. per day being given, starting with 1 or 2oz. The oake is' boiled half- an hour previous to being fed. The ration of milk varies with the age and size of the calf—B or 101b! at a week; 141b. at 8 weeks; 2 gallons at' 2 months. In the case of a shortage ~ of pasture, silage mixed with half quantity of chaffed Indian cane (green) is given. To . the above is added any linseed cake available, at the rate of Jib. per calf."