BUTTERMILK CALVES.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 18 March 1914, Page 4

BUTTERMILK CALVES.

AS A CREAMERY SIDE LINE.

EXPERIENCE OF AN ONTARIO

CREAMERY MAN,

Win, Newman, of Victoria County, Ontario, writes in " Farm and Dairy " on '' Calf-rearing as a Creamery Side Line," as follows :—

The profitable handling of the buttermilk from our creameries has always been more or less of a problem. The best way is to sell it as a form of drink, which can profitably be done where the creamery is in a town or city. Another way is to feed it to hogs directly from the creamery or to sell it to farmers for that purpose.

For some years I have thought that buttermilk fresh from the chur would be good feed for calves. I have been discouraged, however, by the farmers of my acquaintance who thought it could not be so used. The idea grew so strong with me that in June, 1911, to give my idea a trial, I bought six calves about eight weeks old. These I placed on good grass. We fed buttermilk in which flax seed meal was used much the same as farmers now use. it with skim milk. We also allowed the calves to eat whole oats. They did not die, were never even sick, and grew until at New Year they weighed 450 to 500 lbs each, and were very healthy. -

In April I began gathering up my calves, going for them to the counties of Leeds, Grenvillc, and Dundas, where I found a very fine lot of good milking cows in connection with cheese factories of that district. They were principally of Holstein breed, and in eveiy district the purebred bull several crosses was the pride of the farmer. I gathered together a fine lot of calves of all ages up to six and eight weeks old. Another year Ido not expect to handle any calves that are not four weeks old, as they are too young to stand the journey well. While in the stable we fed all the calves ' separately. By the middle of May we put them on grass. Our milk now became plentiful and we immediately began to feed to them in troughs. We divided the calves in lots of from 25 to 35 calves, giving each lot about 12 acres of meadow. We then, in May, had 165 c alves. Now we have 164, having lost one calf during this summer. Since that time we have not had one sick calf, and on August Bth I weighed what I picked out as an average of the herd, which weighed 260 lbs. One of the best weighed 3201b5. We feed 118 calves the milk from our daily averaga make of 1200 lbs of butler. In this is soaked about 301bs of oil cake and about 10 lbs of flax seed meal. One hundred calves would be better on this quantity than 118, yet by adding a littla to the milk by way of substitute they are all growing rapidly. I expect that these calves by the first week in October will average about 325 lbs. They are nearly all heifers of good milking stock, and I expect to call a sale during the first or second week in October and give the farmers of Ontario a good chance to procure the foundation for a herd of fine milkings cows.

The profitableness of this venture think is assured ; but of this we Avill speak more definitely after our sale.