BEARING THOROUGHBRED CALVES.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2650, 5 October 1882, Page 4

BEARING THOROUGHBRED CALVES.

The most critical time of life with the calf is while it is quite young. However there ig even then very little risk, provided it is given warm milk from the cow, and reoeives this with regularity, the oow being in good health. At the present price of butter, however, it may be questionable whether it pays to raise so.'ub-oalves upon t'.e cow's milk fresh from the udder. The raising of calves is a very simple prooess, and is carried on to perfection by oowa of the lowest known mental and physical organisation, under the adverse influences of bad climate and rough feed. But this suooess rests upon one thing mainly, milk from the udder. All other conditions we can imitate by improvised methods, but thus far, though we know fully, through analysis, what the milk is made up of, we are are unable to imitate it.

In the rearing of calves for the dairy, or for the growing of beef, it is admissible to experiment with what are known as " made foods;" bat with thoroughbred calves of the beef breeds, intended all the time to be good representatives of their class, experiments are hardly warrantable—at any rate suoh aa contemplate the practice of a so-called economy—through substituting articles " believed to be good," for the milk of the dam, which is known fully to meet all the necessities. It is, however, proper, e>s the oalf aoquires a little age—say at eight to twelve weeks old—especially if he have less new milk than he needs to keep up a rapid growth, to add a little of the made foods, by giving him gruel mode of unbolted flour, or ground oats, to which a little corn meal and oil oako may be added, together with a little fine, well cured hay. It is expeoted that thoroughbred calves, intended as progenitors of future high-priced animals, will always be in fine condition. Visitors are liable to drop in at any time, and even the novice knows that a straight top and bottom line are always expeoted to be found in high-bred animals of the beef breeds. Now, it is well known to all who have reared calves upon foods other than the cow's milk in its complete state, that in nineteen oases out of twenty, with the very best management, the belly will get a little bigger than aooords fully with symmetry. This spoils the appearanoe of the lower line ; and if the belly bsoomes a little bulky, and consequently heavy, this will unfavorably affeot the top line. Straight top, bottom, and sides insure symmetry in any reasonably good, high bred oalf, while at the same time they are pretty correct indications of undisturbed digestion. A little enlargement of the belly in a store calf, or one intended for the dairy, is admissible, because these are intended to remain on the farm, but the other sort referred to are always expeoted, if for sale, to look trim ; and the pride of the owner is supposed to make this nfoessary, even though we have no prioe upon them. Profit, of course, is made by substituting for the cow's milk subatanoes that are worth less than the milk, yet answering, in quite a degree, the samo purpose. Liebig, Professor Turner, and many others have tried ineffectually to imitate the milk of the cow in any considerable degree. Combinations may be given that are of like nutritive value, bulk for bulk, or rather they would be if the conditions following their use remained the same. But the enlarged abdomen is a changed condition, having a material bearing in the directions pointed out above ; and under every oiroumstance, where the artificial plan is tried, it requires to be practiced with great judgment and skill. But now we are told of an Englishman who has, after long experimenting, succeeded, it is said, in getting sufficiently close to the real milk to deoeive the calf itself. Mr Bowick is the man who claims that he has done this, and that his substitute will oost not more than one-sixth the value, quart for quart, of the genuine milk itself. He appears not to be altogether a pretender, as he is the author of the standard manual of the Boyal Agricultural Sooiety, on the rearing of calves, hence he should have a hearing. In the meantime, until Mr Bowick perfeotshis food, and proves it to be superior to gruel, oil cake, &0., &0., we may use these artioles with oare, on any olass of calves, provided we can, while using them, keep the lines straight.