A VICIOUS HABIT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 August 1940, Page 9

A VICIOUS HABIT

REMEDIAL MEASURES. When calves are reared together they sometimes indulge in the practice of suckling each other. This is a vicious habit, and when once acquired is difficult to break off. When one animal starts, others seem to follow the bad example. Consequently, complaints of calves being unthrifty are often heard without the owners being aware that this practice was responsible for the falling off in condition. It is hard to know which animal is most harmed by the habit, the sucker or the sucked. In the case of the sucker, the continual drawing of air causes flatulence and indigestion, while in the case of the sucked the effects are sometimes even more disastrous. The real remedy, when possible, is to feed calves separately and keep them apart until the taste of milk has disappeared from their mouths. They may be helped by placing a little fresh hay within their reach. Other remedial measures consist in keeping a headstall on each, the nose band of which has been studded on the outer surface with sharp points, so that when sucking is tried, the irritation caused by the points will frustrate the operation. Dressing the parts selected for sucking with a strong solution of aloes is another plan which sometimes gives good results.