FEEDING OF CALVES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 August 1939, Page 3

FEEDING OF CALVES

BUILDING-UP PROCESS. WHOLE MILK RATION. About 87 per cent of cow’s milk is water. Of the remainder, nearly onethird is fat, and a good separator, if properly operated, will remove about 95 per cent of this fat. Very little protein is removed. It follows that, if the separated milk is to be made equal in feeding value to the original milk, either the fat or its equivalent must be replaced. There is no need to replace protein, and for this reason it is not good practice to feed such protein-rich materials as linseed meal in conjunction with skim milk to very young calves. The new-born calf should get whole milk for a fortnight if it is to be given a good start in life. For the first few days it may be fed three times daily; after that, twice daily is enough. A safe level to feed is-one gallon to each 1001 b. live-weight. At the end of the second week a little maize meal is stirred into the milk and the change to separated milk begun. By the end of the third week the maize meal may be built up to a handful, and the change to separated milk completed. By the end of a month the calf begins to nibble grass, and can consume about Alb. of meal. From then on to the eighth week the milk can be replaced progressively by water and a meal mixture. By the eighth week the calf will be able to eat up to 21b. daily of a suitable meal mixture. Such a mixture may contain 351 b. of linseed meal and 651 b. of a cereal meal. Pollard and bran should not constitute more than one-half of the cereal meal. The remainder may be crushed oats, barley or maize. About Alb. of salt and 21b of sterilised bone meal should be included in the mixture. As the animals take more grass or hay the supply of the meal mixture is restricted. At six months, unless an adverse period is encountered, the calf should bo able to fend for itself.