CARE OF CALVES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 21 January 1928, Page 14

CARE OF CALVES.

CLEANLINESS AND COMFORT POINTS IN FEEDING. One of the most serious items in the cost of maintaining a dairy herd is the annual replacement of cows discarded for disease, old age or inferior yield, says “Ploughshare ’ ’ in the “New Zealand Farmer. ’ ’ Nearly all progressive dairy farmers now endealvour to meet chi s by using a good bull and rearing the heifer calves from their best cows. This policy can hardly fail to result in a steady improvement in the herd, provided, of course, that the bull is judiciously chosen, and that the general management is good. It need hardly be said that, having obtained good calves, it is sound policy to give them the best possible start in life. THE FIRST FEW DAYS. There is more than one opinion as to the length of the period during which the calf is left with the cow. As far as the calf is concerned, however, the longer the period the better. The milk will not be tit for separation for three days after calving, so that the plan of leaving the calf on the cow for that period ha: 3 much to commend it; surplus milk can be drawn out twice a day. This first milk or colostrum is essential to the calf. It has a purgative effect, and serves to cleanse the bowels of matter accumulated there when the calf is bprn. The digestion of the new-born calf being weak, it is of great advantage to it to get this milk straight from the udder —little and often, and at blood heat. After the calf has been taken away, it should get its own mother’s milk as soon as possible after it has been drawn. In machine-milked herds . this is not possible, and the calf must take mixed milk; but this should be warmed to approximately blood-heat and given in three feeds a day for the first week. This means a little extra work, but often saves trouble in that digestive troubles, such as scouring, are avoided. A gallon a day is enough to start on, rising to as gallon and a half at the end of ten days, when separated milk can be started and new milk, gradually decreased. At three weeks old the new milk can be discarded altogether; aJersey at that age should be getting two gallons a day of separated milk, Friesians and Shortnorn s rather more. This amount may be increased gradually till the calf is two months old, at which age three gallons a day will be ample; more than this will be walsteUgil, and probably harmful. At three months die amount can be cut down by degrees until the calf in finally weaned at five months old.

Many calves are reared each season on far less milk than this, Tout the economy is doubtful. Milk, after all, even skim milk, is unsurpassed for building .ip frame and constitution, and these factors will have a big in the pro--1 tableness or otherwise of the future cow. Calves are costly to rear in any case, so it is false economy to rear poor ones. The question of fat-substitutes is worth consideration. The fat removed by the separator must be replaced somehow if the calf is to make satisfactory growth. 'Codliver oil, mixed with the skim milk at the rate of loz. per feed is excellent. There are also one or two other oily feeds on the market that give quite satisfactory results. But the best and simplest plan of all is to give a little crushed oats after the milk, starting with half-n.-hnndful at three weeks old and working up to lialf-a-pound a feed. The oats should be placed in the bottom of the bucket or tin as soon as the milk is finished. In licking out the bucket the calf soon learns to eat the oats and the taste is readily acquired. A little dry feed puts constitution into the calves and tends to make them less pot-bellied than if they are fed entirely on liquid food. There are some quite good calf meals on the market, but where this method.

is preferred, a good home-made mixture can be made. Equal parts inalize-meal, pollard and linseed-meal are very good and this mixture cau be stirred into the milk just before feeding—there is really no need to cook or boil it. It is a'n excellent plan to make up a mixture of bonefiour, powdered chalk and salt, and put a small pinch it into the milk. This ensures the formation of strong bone and moreover is a preventive of scour, the lat ter trouble being nearly always due to acidity in the stomach set up by the milk. The calf paddock should be topdressed regularly and always kept short. If the calves cannot keep down the grass, cows or horses should be turned in at regular intervals. Shelter is also of some importance, especially for the early calves. What is really wanted is a temporary shelter, mhde in sections, so that it can readily be taken down and shifted to another part of the paddock. This is better than a permanent structure with • a floor, which is extremely difficult to keep free from dirt and vermin.

The paddock itself should have shelter of some sort, otherwise the calves will tend to lie about out of the wind and so miss the exercise they need. Olenin water should always be available. As the calves grow and the weather gets warm they need more liquid than the milk supplies. The method of feeding is worthy of a little study. Only one who has spent many hours with his finger in a calf’s mouth can appreciate the fact that pgtienee brings the quickest result. Once

the calf has been taught to drink, the bail is easily th e best method. It is : impossible to feed loose calves without 'milk being wasted and the stronger calves getting more than their share. The bail should always be in a dry place and it is an advantage to have a roof over them. The calves should alwaVs be kept bailed up for ten minutes after feeding in order to discourage sucking. The feeding of crushed oats after the milk also tends to prevent sucking because it dries out th e - calf’s mouth.

Where the calves are valuable and it is possible to give a little extra time to the feeding of them, the bottle is excellent. An ordinary baby’s dummy is used and is kept in place with a loop of fine string. This method produces excellent calves beea'use it allows them to follow the natural process of sucking instead of the unnatural one of drinking.

It is hardly necessary to emphasise the fact that cleanliness is of prime * importance. In fact the secret of successful calf-rearing can be summed up in two words—cleanliness and comfort. Buckets or tins should be scrubbed out" with hot water every feeding time, and cleansed with soda once a week. Nothing upsets a calf quicker than a taint of sourness in the milk. More than half the deaths among calves are due to this cause. Perhaps this is the reason wliv some of the best calves are reaired by women, whose ideas of cleanliness are commonly more advanced than those of their menfolk.