CALVING TIME.

Putaruru Press, Volume VIII, Issue 342, 12 June 1930, Page 8

CALVING TIME.

FEEDING HIGH PRODUCERS. High producing dairy cows should have very careful feeding just before and just after calving time. Many cows are ruined because of careless l feeding at this period. The ration** should be greatly at least a week before the cow is due to calve. A few days before calving, says an overseas writer, the cow should have nothing but light bran mashes well salted. If the weather is cold the water she is given, should have the chill removed. A small amoung of roughage in the form of lucerne or clover hay is desirable, but in most instances it is best to discontinue silage for a week before calving. For the first three days after calving the cow should not receive more than two or three pounds of bran made up i in a mash for the first day, and one or one and a-half lb. additional added each of the next couple of days. On the fourth or fifth day, after her udder is in good condition, a small amount of other concentrates can be allowed. Some middlings, linseed oil meal, oats, and bran will be sufficient. At the end of a week the cow can be consuming her accustomed amount of roughage and she can have all the water she wants to drink providing the chill has boon removed if the weather is cold. The feed now can be gradually increased, and at the end of two weeks the cow can be on full feed if she is carefully watched. In their eagerness to get the cow to full feed many dairymen overfeed their cows at calving time, causing udder trouble and often other troubles as well. If the cow has been properly fitted for calving by a preliminary feeding for several weeks she will not suffer any by being fed in this manner, but rather will profit by it.