CALF CLUB NOTES

Waikato Independent, Volume XXXV, Issue 3335, 25 July 1935, Page 3

CALF CLUB NOTES

BOYS’ AND GIRLS’ AGRICULTURAL CLUB CALF-REARING COMPETITION No. 1. (Notes Supplied by Cambridge Calf Club Committee). We have heard a great deal of comment upon the very ' fine display of calves which the members of our club had entered in the last Cambridge Show. This is very pleasing indeed, and so we believe that the boys and girls of the district will again enter into their club Avork with great vigour and enthusiasm this year..

Wo feel sure, too, that the boys and girls will have the full support of their parents who will endeavour to do all they can to help every child who is keen to join the club. Those who were successful last year we congratulate: but we also wish to give some words of praise to those who did not manage to gain a place in the prize list. You worked as hard as the others maybe; but we know that you are true sons and daughters of Now Zealand and will not be giving up the club work just because you did not secure a place. We know that you are real sports, and will enter into the competition again, with enthusiasm and with the determination to do even better this season. The aim of the club’s work is not so much that you win a prize, but that you learn something about the work of the farm, and that you have the pleasure of rearing a calf yourself. Then there is also the value of tackling the work scientifically, of keeping a record of all you do, and watching and noting the result of your treatment. Greater benefit is derived when you discuss your method of calf-rearing with your mates and compare notes. You can easily learn something from your fellows, and so can your fellows from you. In that way you are also sowing the seeds of co-operation, which is what wc really need most in New Zealand to-day, and indeed, in the whole world.

As in past years, notes will appear in these columns at regular intervals. These notes will contain suggestions regarding your club work. No doubt, you will have the close co-operation of your parents in this work, but you may oossiblv find one or two useful hints in the notes we shall have published for you. We hope that you will cut out the useful portions and paste them in the back of your notebook. Selecting the Calf After 14th July, got your father to pick out for you the most promising grade heifer calf. He will select for vou one that shows a likelihood of developing into a really good calf after vour careful feeding. The sooner you start after 14th July the better; but remembers you cannot select a calf born before 14th July. The following information ought to armour in your record, (a) Date ' of birth: (bl breed; (c) quantities and kind of food given at each meal; (d) vour attention to the calf, such as rugging, shelter, cure of bad health, brushing, pasture, in fact; anything that concerns the life of your calf; (el photos (later on! indicating the calf’s good points (f) newspaper clippings of instructions. Since this is to be an important part of your work, keep your notes in a

rough note-book so that they may be transferred to the special record book and chart which will be supplied to you free of charge. Many farmers lose the value of past experience by not keeping accurate records of the farming operations carried out by them so that they can note the results and have the information discovered stored away in a diary for future reference. The following method of setting out your diary was recommended last year: HOW I REARED MY CALF Date of Birth: 4th August. Name: “Beauty.” Breed: Jersey Grade. Feeding: No. of Morn- EvenDate. Days. ing. • ing. 4tli Aug. 1 Mother’s Milk. 2 3 „ „ Now Milk. 4 81b? BJbs 5 81bs 81ns 6 91bs 91bs 7 91bs 91bs 11th Aug. 8 Dibs 91bs Treatment and Observations: This section will be a record of the health of the calf, the treatment you give it to overcome ill-health, your caro of the calf in the way of shelter, the type of pasture it feeds on, and any observations on its progress you can make.