HINTS ON CALF REARING.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 679, 1 November 1921, Page 2

HINTS ON CALF REARING.

During the first of the opening days of the Farmers’ School at Ruakura, Mr A. W. Green, the manager of the farm, gave some valuable informtion on calf rearing. Mr Green said it was always essential to have plenty of feed ready for calves, andithe paddock in which he was giving his demonstration had been laid down in Western Wolth’s rye grass, red clover and oats was for this purpose. The oats, he said, acted as a temporary filling for the grass, and provided the first feed for the calves. He added that oats were very good for calves, and he had never seen calves scour on them, except when they got rank or rusty. The advantage of feeding at bails is that the calves get their proper share, and later in life there is no difficultly in getting them into bails for milking 1 , Mr Green said that when a calf was born, ’if it was a poor one, the best plan was to kill it right away, but if it was good to <{ do it well.” It was no good doing a calf well at the start and letting it get a check later. Ho advised leaving a calf with the cow for a full day, and then nutting it in a shed well away from the cow. It was well not ( to feed it for a few hours, but when it was hungry to give it 41b to 51b of new milk each day. increasing up to 101 b per day. After a month the calf should be given half new and half skim milk. In about eight weeks 'it should be givens kim milk mixed! with crushed linseed or crushed oats. After reaching this stage they shoaold be brought from the shed and fed at the bails, and given about 151 b ot milk and 16oz of concentrated foods. There were many preparations, but he preferred crushed oats', Calves should not be over-fed. It was far better to give a little frequently, and it would pay well to feed three times a day. It was not advisable to give crushed meal before a calf was a month old. Where skim milk was n«t available whey could take its place, but care must be taken not to put calves ontoiit too suddenly. If they scour when given their first feed of liniseed a teaspoonful of carbonate of soda will put them right. All utensils should he kept perfectly clean, and was a big advantage to have a concrete yard for calves. He advised weaning before Christmas, as feed as a rule was plentiful up to then, and a calf learned to find for itself. It was preferable to have a new pasture for them, as there was not the same danger of picking up the stomach worm as there was with old pastures, The calves that Mr Green showed the farmers were splendid specimens, and he said this condition was largely due to regular feeding. Calves could be dehorned when three days old by the use of caustic potash. The calf, however, should be kept quite dry for three days after, or else the caustic will run and burn the head. In conclusion, Mr Green said it paid dairy farmers to rear their calves, but they should not rear more than they required for their own use. By this method they knew what class of stock they had', and did not have to buy other farmers’ culls.