CALF-REARING.

Otaki Mail, Volume XXIII, 22 December 1920, Page 4

CALF-REARING.

Next to suckling calves on the cows, j feeding them entirely on new or old J milk claims first place for rearing : really good animals, but this is an expensive method, and practised only in rare instances. A much more popular and common custom is the rearing them upon either skim or separated milk, with the addition of calf meals or other supplementary foods. The majority of calves (oays “Live Stock Journal”) are brought up in this way,j new milk being given only during the first ten days or a fortnight. This feeding for a while on new mill: is really necessary to the welfare of the * calf. That food contains in the proper proportions all the necessary , elements for the nourishment of the,] calf at a tender age. It is nature o' most suitable diet for the tender stomach, being easily digested and assimilated, and nothing can ever challenge its position as being the best food for giving a young animal a really good start in life. During the first few days the calf should be led entirely on the milk taken fiom its own mother. It evidently contains some properties favourable to the j health of the calf which cannot be found in milk taken from strange cows, and so marked is this fact in the majority of cases that one is driven to the conclusion that some natural affinity exists between the calf and the first milk of its mother. It, is undoubtedly true, at any rate, that they thrive better upon it than they do when fed upon strange milk. Tor one thing it contains medicinal properties of a correct description for keeping the calf in a healthy state, and, as we all know, natural means of' attaining this object are much prefer- ( able to resorting to the use of drugs.