HOW TO RAISE POOR COWS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 24 July 1915, Page 2

HOW TO RAISE POOR COWS.

Some maxims from America. j The following ao not apply to New Zealand, but may be ot interest as showing the "Boh'ts" that are being ; impressed on some American tanners. i 1. Don't pay any attention to what kind or breed the bull is. If you want | to be perfectly sure your stock will be poor, keep a bull of one breed for one j or two j ears, then change to another j breed, then back again. The calf j won't care whether the black is on her I tongue and tail or on her body. Cows ' don't pay as much attention to their i complexion as women do. I 2. Don't feed the mother of the calf you intend raising any grain .while she is dry. This is fehe time when the calf j is growing the fastest, and of course, i if the cow is made to pick her living j off dry pastures, the calf will be smaller and have less vigor and j vitality. ] 3. Don't feed the calf but a very little whole milk after its mother's "milk is fit for use. Put it right on to some calf food at once. If the calf won't eat it, starve her to it. j 4. Don't pay any attention about following the printed directions fori feeding the calf meal. Feed it any old ! way —make it rich one meal and "thin j the next. When the bag is nearly I empty forget to get another bag, so you will have a good reason for mak- J mg feeds pretty thin, and of course the meal will last just that much longer. 5. If you haven't succeeded in getting the calf to have the scours, try feeding the calf out of dirty pails. All j calves are not alike. • i 6. Cold meals often bring on scours ' which help to reduce the vitality of a j calf. A calf is never quite as vigorous | after a good attack of scours as she would have been. 7. Don't feed the young calf three ' times a day for the first month or six weeks. Fill her up in two meals. Forget that a young calf has a small stomach, and that it is very apt to be overtaxed when only fed twice a day. * 8. Young calves don't know the difference between bright clover hay or alfalfa and overripe timothy which got gained on two or three times, so feed it to the calves whenever you happen to think about it. They probably will not miss it much, anyway. "9. Don't feed any dry grain. At first the calves will not know what it is for, and perhaps you will prevent them forming a rather costly habit. 10. Keep the calves in damp pens. Bedding soon gets wet and soiled. 11. If they are spring calves, be sure to turn them out. in some small pasture where there is no shade or a place where they can get away from, the flies. 12. Forget that n calf will drink water as well as milk. 13. Make the yeaviing calves tough by making them rustle for a living off t!;e dry pastures well into December if the snow is not on the ground, when an old slack will trke its place. Don't feed them on any grain during this winter either. It is hard for a cow to break the habit of eating grain after she has once formed it. 14. Remember that a lot of small poor cows will not make as much milk as a less number of large, well-bred and well-selected ones, so try to raise ten heifers on the feed which ought to be fed to ordv seven or eight head. If any or all of th°se rules have been followed, the cow keeper will enjoy good health and long hours even if he does not make a profit.