CONCERNING CALVES

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4467, 21 September 1901, Page 8 (Supplement)

CONCERNING CALVES

lb is hardly safe (says the “Agricultural World”) to judge a calf under three months old. But some calves, the progeny of good cows, carry their certificate of character with them; especially if that character is to be_ unfavourable. A calf of inferior possibilities we may say carries its future in its face especially. A calf having a coarse, rough head, a thick neck, short,' inelegant, thick limbs, and a general' uninviting appearance, may very properly be discarded, and time and money, or the value of it, may be saved by feeding it for veal. The elegant, well-bal-anced form, the large eye, the slender neck, .and the deep hind-quarters go, on the contrary, to indicate a future profitable . animal if its rearing is what it should be to develop the possibilities suggested by its form. One experienced in his business may very rarely be mistaken in thus expending time, good food alnd care, and exercising all the devices known to practical dairymen, who .have successfully reared good cows from their calves thus indicated , aspromising a future good character. We may- add to these a thin, fine-haired skin, of a good yellow colour, and a tractable disposition, as points not to be neglected. All these cannot ho given afterwards to any inferior calf; all the training, and education, and feeding that may be spent on a calf will not make up for the want of these natural advantages.