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Show '; ' 1MEXIS1K ! Tho Care of the Calf, from "Hoards Dairyman," will answer local questions ques-tions of the farmer's who are bcgining to milk cows for the creamery. CALF CAHE I Hoard's Dairyman: In response to your request I give my method of raising rais-ing Gucrnesy calves. I take a calf from its dam when one and one-half days old and teach it to drink. Or-1 dirtirily, I try to give the calf about 10 lbs. of whole milk a day in two feeds. I .find it necessary, however, to watch the calf closely to see whether it takes care of the milk well and if I find it is not doing so, the a-mount, a-mount, of course, must be reduced, i In somo cases I may feed even more than this where the calf shows the ability to take care of. it. However, there is no hard and fast rule that I can follow, except to be governed by tho calf itself. Occasionally I find the calf does not take care of the rich milk, in which case I reduce it with warm water or skimmilk. After feeding whole milk for three weeks I gradually change to skimmilk, skim-milk, until by the sixth week the calf is getting all skimmilk. During this , period I commence to feed the calf whole oats and it will shortly be taking tak-ing a small handful at a feed. However, How-ever, the calf will not eat much under two months old, after which it will average about a quart of oats a day. I ordinarily feed tho calf skimmilk until it is about six months old, feeding feed-ing it longer than this if I hiv-: a supply sup-ply word than is required by the younger ciivm nnd pigi. At six months old I feed the calves silage and add to this the same grain ration T am feeding the cows, trying to feed grain according to tho ability of each ' calf to take care of it and keep in1 good growing condition but nst fat.1 From tho very first alfalfa hay is kept before the calves all the time and it is not long before they commence com-mence to nibble at It and ns they grow older will consume quite a con-1 sidcrablo portion. I have never had any trouble from calves scouring on alfalfa hay. Some people report this ! kind of trouble and advise tho u.e of clover, or clover and timothy. It is my own opinion based on my experience exper-ience that their trouble is due to some other cause than tho alfalfa. ! I do not know that I have the best method of taking caro of calves, but people who come into tho barn usually remark on the growthy condition of my calves. I have never yet lost a calf that was not weak at birth, and this has happened only twice. W. C. PETERS. |