YOUNG CALVES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20110, 31 March 1928, Page 9

YOUNG CALVES

TREATMENT AT BIRTH. When the calf is first dropped it should be allowed to run with its mother for 24 hours, the object being to allow it to secure a colstrum, boastings, or first milk Irom the cow, says a writer in the Adelaide Observer. This milk, which, contains a large proportion of albumen, has medicinal properties of distinct advantage to the alinemtary tract of the newly-born calf. By allowing a day to elapse, it can generally be assumed that the calf has suckled its mother and secured some of the new milk, but it is inadvisable to allow a longer time to elapse, because they take much longer to forget each other, the calf being disinclined to drink, and the cow holding back her milk. The cow at this time should receive a hot bran mash and a drench of, say, Boz. to 12oz. of Epsom salts. After removing the calf from its ; mother, it should be given the I mother’s milk at blood temperature (98<lcg. to lOOdeg. F.). because, for a week at least, the milk is still of an abnormal nature, and particularly suited to the building up of bone, muscle, etc. This gives the calf a good start in life, but should the mother die, the addition of the white of an egg to ordinary fresh, warm milk will make a good substitute. During winter months the calf should have warm quarters, with straw r bedding, and shade in summer. The quantity of milk the calf receives at this time should bo 101 b. to 121 b. daily, given, according to tbe calf’s appetite, in two or three separate feeds.