FARMERS’ COLUMN.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 125, 28 January 1915, Page 7

FARMERS’ COLUMN.

GROW BEEF, DON’T MAKE IT. Good herdsmen agree that a call should never he allowed to lose any of its first flesh, and that loss due to half or retrograde step is difficult to regain. Many stock raisers, however, think the calf not worth bothering with, ‘ and postpone the special care and attention it should receive while young a later date, but a time when it will not be transformed into as many pounds of flesh as during the first six months of the calf’s life. However, a good root acreage, a high silo well filled, lots of cl o ver hay and chop, and a liking for stock will combine to grew beef that will be very acceptable to the hungry multitudes. Autumn calves ar ( -> not as common as they should be where the herd is maintained for dual purposes, but any that come along at this season of the year should raceme ’particular they will be worth a fair price for beef in the next few years.

Any normal Mall’ will consume a large quantity cf milk when obtained naturally from the udd e r of its dam or nurse cow, but bucket feeding is a different proposition, and the acme of a herdsman’s skill is teaching a sucking calf to drink skim milk out of a bucket. This is a good test for any aspiring agriculturist, and an examination that all lecturers and leaders should pass before communicating their views to others. However, the practice is not to be commended for the first few weeks of the calf’s life when it is being wenaed from its mother and changed from whole milk to skim-milk and grain is a critical p e riod, and it is then that common sense and skill go a long way in moulding the creature that at the age of thirty months finds its way to the block and to the consumer. Many calves are injured by overTendnig at the start when the bucket is used, and more especially so when skim milk is a part cf the ration. Feeders in their ambition to grow a good calf endeavour to replace with quantity the fat which is absent in th e skim milk, and in doing sc bring indigestion and attendant evils upon their charge in order to indicate approximately the quantity of milk that is safely fed, and the steps in changing from whol e milk to skim milk, the instructions that were followed in an experiment at Macdonald College are printed below:

1. Birth until four days old—B to 10 lbs of whole milk, in three feeds per day

2. Fifth until seventh day: lOlbs whole milk, in three feeds per day. 3. Seventh to tenth day: 121bs of whole milk, in feeds per day. 4. Tenth to fifteenth day: lllbs of whole milk and 1 lb skim milk, in two feeds a day; also 1 teaspoonful of linseed porridge each feed. 5. Fifteenth to twentieth day: filbs of whole milk and Bibs skim milk, in two feeds per day; also 1 teaspoonful porridge each feed. 6. Twentieth to twenty-fifth day: 7 lbs whole milk and Bibs skim milk, in two feeds per day; also 2 teaspconfuls porridge each feed. 7. Twenty-fifth to thirtieth day: 31bs whole milk and 8 lbs skim milk, in two feeds per day; also 1 tablespoonful porridge each feed. S. Thirtieth day: 121bs skim milk, in two feeds p e r day; two tablespoonfuls of porridge at each feed. 9. Gradually increase skim milk to 24 lbs in two feeds per day, and linseed porridge to half pint as th 0 calf develops. Arrange to wean calf at six months old.

We use this schedule not because it is infallibly correct, but simply to point out the stops and precautions that wisdom recommends when the calf is being introduced to a diet of roots, silage, grain and hay that will later constitute the ration. The function cf the linseed porridge is to replace th e fat that is absent in the skim milk, but it will not be necessary ,o continue the feeding cf meal in this way for the calf before it is many weeks old will e at its grain from a box and derive more benefit from it than when obtained as a drink. “Canadian Farmers’ Advocate.”

COW-TESTING. WEST COAST ASSOCIATION RESULTS, The following are results obtained by the above Association for the quarter ending December 29 last; Highest individual cow, ISOOlbs milk 4.0 test, 72.00 lbs butter-fat; lowest, individual cow, P.OOlbs milk, 3.4 t y st, 10.201bs butter fat; highest average herd 1107. C lbs milk, 3.8 test, 42.081bs butter-fat; lowest average herd, uSo.o lbs milk, 3.88 test, 22.81bs butter-fat. The five highest cows ranged from ISOOlbs milk, 4.0 test, 72.001bs butterfat to lOSOlbs milk, 4.8 test, 51.841bs cf butter-fat; five lowest cows ranged from 3001bs milk, 3.4 test, 10.201bs of butter-fat to 3901bs milk, 3.4 test. 13.261bs of butter-fat. The five highest herds ranged from 1107.Gibs milk, 3.8 test, 42.081bs of but-ter-fat to 7221bs milk, 4.C test, 33.221bs of butter-fat; the five lowest herds from 586.51bs milk, 3.89 lest, 22.81bs of butter-fat; to 6841bs milk, 3.77 test, 25.78 lbs butter-fat.