CALF DEVELOPMENT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23488, 27 October 1939, Page 15

CALF DEVELOPMENT

NEEDS BEFORE WEANING It must be remembered that in the calf, and the lamb, while dependent on their mothers for milk, the paunch is not developed. During this stage the milk, which is a complete food and drink, goes direct to tlio fourth stomach, and is there quickly assimilated into the blood stream. This means that these young animals, unlike their mature species, cannot eat largo quantities at one time, for the fourth stomach is a comparatively small organ. Tt means also, however, that as milk is assimilated so quickly, their feeds should be frequent, and that bulky food or roughage should never be given until the paunch has started to develop and the calf shows an interest in more substantial food than milk alone. Feeding a calf at infrequent intervals distends and weakens the fourth stomach, and the periods of hunger experienced induce the calf to attempt to eat grass or other fodder at an age when its paunch is not prepared for it. This is a frequent cause of scour and other symptoms of deranged digestion. With calves, as with pigs, food should be available to them practically continuously, and all the more is this necessary when the diet is almost wholly composed of milk.