OF THE COW. are left to pick a scanty and frost-bitten food, on the coming on of the chilly and rainy season; and it is not uncommon to find cows, which at an early period of the fall were in good condition, poor and ill-conditioned by the setting in of winter. The solids of the beast are dissipated; her milk reduced, and her value to the owner greatly diminished. These remarks, it may be observed, will apply with nearly equal truth to the whole stock of many of the farmers in New England. Many excellent heifers for milk are nearly ruined by bad milkers. If they are ticklish, as the farmers express it, they should be treated with great gentleness. If the udder be hard and painful, as it sometimes is, let it be tenderly fomented with lukewarm water, and gently rubbed, in order to bring the creature into good temper. It will, however, sometimes happen, if a cow (especially a young one) is managed with ever so much care, she will kick, and exhibit other symptoms of a vicious disposition. In such cases, the editor of the New England Farmer recommends the following mode of managing a cow, suggested by one of his correspondents. (See New England Farmer, vol. III. p. 10.) "I have seen," observes the above correspondent, "very promising heifers spoiled, when first beginning to milk them, by banging and hallooing at them because of their kicking. I have also seen cows give a good mess of milk, and when they had done, kick it over. I can always tell when a heifer is inclined to kick, before her calf is gone. If she is, I take a strong strap, buckle it tight round her hind legs, below the gambril joints, including her tail if it is long enough. This method will cause much uneasiness at first. If the cow falls down, no matter for that, let her lie a minute or two. Then unbuckle the strap, let her get up, and then fit it on again. Perhaps she may throw herself down again, but she will be very careful how she throws herself down the third time. After she stands still put the calf to her, and let her stand in this manner till the calf has done sucking. Let this be done a few times, and it will generally break the cow of kicking, also of starting and running when part milked, as some cows will. I put on the strap before the calf is gone, because if let alone till afterwards, the cow is apt to hold up her milk, when the strap is first put on. If the teats of a cow are sore, they should be washed with sugar of lead and water. The proportion recommended, is two drachms of sugar of lead to a quart of water. If tumours appear, a warm mash of bran, with a little lard is said to be a good application. The following liniment is said to be efficacious. Linseed oil, 4 oz., Liquor of Ammonia, oz." Another method (see New England Farmer, Vol. II. p. 132) is, after tying the cow in the stanchels, to make one end of a rope fast round her horns, and put the other end over the girt which is about two feet higher than the top of the stanchels, and about the same distance in front, draw it pretty tight and fasten it to a stud. This so effectually secures her that she may be milked with the most perfect ease and safety; and after practising this method two or three times, she will give no more trouble. It is said that several trials on different cows have proved this method not only vastly superior to all others, but an effectual remedy; and it is so easy and simple that a female or boy can secure a cow without any C REARING OF CALVES. difficulty. Another advantage this method has over any other, is, that by keeping the cow's back hollow, it is believed, she cannot hold up her milk. It is desirable sometimes to dry cows more expeditiously than can be well done in the common way; especially when they have a plenty of fresh food. The following method is recommended in Monk's Agricultural Dictionary. Take an ounce of powdered alum; boil it in two quarts of milk until it turns to whey: then take a large handful of sage, and boil it in the whey, till you reduce it to one quart; rub her udder with a little of it, and give her the rest by way of drink; milk her clean before you give it to her; and as you see need repeat it. Draw a little milk from her every second or third day, lest her udder be overcharged. The period of gestation, or time during which the cow goes with calf, is various: with a bull calf, she usually goes about forty-one weeks, with a difference of a few days either way; a cow calf comes in less time. Between nine and ten months, therefore, may be assigned for the period of gestation; at the end of which time she produces one calf; though instances sometimes occur when two, or even three, are brought forth. It may not, however, be useless to remark, that some cows are naturally barren, which is said to be the case when a male and female calf are produced at the same time. The male animal is perfect in all respects; but the female, which is denominated a free martin, is incapable of propagating her species; it does not vary very materially in point of form or size from other neat cattle, though its flesh is erroneously supposed to be greatly superior with regard to flavor and fineness of the grain. Some very interesting experiments respecting the periods of gestation in different animals, were made a few years ago, by M. Teissier, of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts at Paris, from which it appears, that out of 575 cows, 21 calved between the 240th and 270th day; mean term 259+ 544 10 299th 270th . 282 303 Thus, between the shortest and longest gestation there was a difference of eighty-one days, which is more than one fourth of the mean duration, ON THE TREATMENT AND REARING OF CALVES. The importance of forwarding calves to maturity, with the greatest possible advantage, to the full developement of their natural qualities, has called forth the ingenuity of the most careful observers, and best breeders. The most approved plan, and certainly, the best general plan, is to adhere, as closely as possible, to nature. On the birth of the calf, the cow generally shows an inclination to clean its skin by licking it. To facilitate this object, it is a frequent practice to throw a handful of common salt over the calf, or to rub a little brandy on it. Some practice taking the calf from the dam immediately, and in an hour after birth, to give it a pint of luke-warm gruel, in lieu of the beestings, or first milk of the cow. This practice appears, however, objectionable, since it is obvious, that nature has provided the beestings as the proper aliment of the newly born anima!. REARING OF CALVES. The mode of rearing calves, both in England and the United States, is various. The usual method in Yorkshire, and most parts of Scotland, says Loudon, is that of giving them milk to drink, there being few instances where they are allowed to suck. For the first two or three weeks, they mostly get milk warm from the cow; but for the next two or three weeks, half the new milk is withdrawn, and skimmed milk substituted in its stead; and at the end of that period, the new milk is wholly withdrawn: they are then fed on skimmed milk alone, or sometimes mixed with water, till they are able to support themselves by eating grass, or other food of that sort. In Cheshire, the practice is to allow the calves to suck, for the first three weeks. They are then fed on warm new whey, or scalded whey and buttermilk, mixed; with the green whey, water is frequently mixed, and either oatmeal, or wheat and bean flour added. A quart of meal or flour, is thought sufficient to mix with forty or fifty quarts of liquid. Oat meal gruel, and buttermilk, with an addition of skimmed milk, are also used for the same purpose. Some one of these prepared kinds of food, is given night and morning, for a few weeks after the calves are put on that diet, but afterwards only once a day, till they are three months old or more. The calves in Gloucestershire are not allowed to suck above two or three days; they are then fed on skimmed milk, which is previously heated over the fire. When they arrive at such an age as to be able to eat a little, they are allowed split beans, or oats; and cut hay, and water, all mixed with the milk. In Sussex, it is common to allow the calves to suck for ten or twelve weeks, or to wean them at the end of three or four, and give them a liberal allowance of skimmed milk, for six or eight weeks longer. In Middlesex, the methods pursued for rearing calves, are either by giving them a pail-full, containing about a gallon, warm from the teat of the cow, morning and evening, for eight or ten weeks, or which is certainly the most agreeable to nature, and therefore to be preferred to any other that can be adopted, to allow the calf to suck its dam, as is sometimes done in the county of Sussex, and generally in Wigtonshire. According to Marshall, the best method is this: The calves suck a week or fortnight, according to their strength, (a good rule;) new milk in the pail, a few meals; next, new milk and skim milk-mixed, a few meals more; then, skim-milk alone, or porridge made with milk, water, ground oats, &c. and sometimes oil-cake, until cheese making commences; after which, whey, porridge, or sweet whey, in the field; being careful to house them in the night, until warm weather be confirmed. This method of suckling is not, however, free from objection; and in the ordinary practice of rearing calves, it is held to be a preferable plan, to begin at once to learn them to drink from a pail. The calf that is fed from the teat must depend upon the milk of its dam, however scanty or irregular it may be; whereas, when fed from a dish, the quantity can be regulated according to its age, and various substitutes may be resorted to, by which a great part of the milk is saved for other purposes, or a greater number of calves reared on the same quantity. Yet it would seem to be a good practice to allow calves to suck for a few days at first, if there was no inconvenience to be apprehended both to themselves and their dams, from their separation afterwards. REARING OF CALVES. When fed from the pail, the average allowance to a calf is about two English wine gallons of milk daily for twelve or thirteen weeks; at first, fresh milk as it is drawn from the cow, and afterwards skim-milk. But after it is three or four weeks old, a great variety of substitutes for milk are used in different places, of which linseed oil-cake, meal, and turnips, are the most common. noon. When calves are reared with skim-milk, it should be boiled, and suffered to stand until it cools to the temperature of that first given by the cow, or a trifling degree more warm, and in that state given to the calf. Milk is frequently given to calves warm only; but that method will not succeed so well as boiling it. If the milk be given over cold, it will cause the calf to skit or purge. When this is the case put two or three spoonfuls of rennet in the milk, and it will soon stop the looseness. If, on the contrary, the calf is bound, bacon broth is a very good and safe thing to put into the milk. One gallon of milk per day will keep a calf well, till it be thirteen weeks old. A calf may then be supported without milk, by giving it hay and a little wheat bran, once a day, with about a pint of oats. The oats will be found of great service as soon as the calf is capable of eating them. The bran and oats should be given about mid-day; the milk in portions, at eight o'clock in the morning, and four in the afterBut whatever hours are chosen to set apart for feeding the calf, it is best to adhere to the particular times, as regularity is of more consequence than many people think. If the calf goes but an hour or two beyond his usual time of feeding, he will find himself uneasy, and pine for food. It is always to be understood that calves reared in this manner, are to be enticed to eat hay as early as possible; and the best way of doing this is to give them the sweetest hay that can be got, and but little at a time. Turnips or potatoes, are very good food, as soon as they can eat them, and they are best cut small and mixed with the hay, oats, bran, and such articles. It may be observed, that it is not absolutely necessary to give milk to calves after they are one month old; and to wean them gradually, two quarts of milk, with the addition of linseed boiled in water, to make a gruel, and given together, will answer the purpose, until by diminishing the milk gradually, the calf will soon do entirely without. Hay tea will answer the purpose, with the like addition of two quarts of milk; but is not so nutritious as linseed. It is a good method of making this, to put such a proportion of hay as will be necessary into a tub, then pour on a sufficient quantity of boiling water, covering up the vessel, and letting the water remain long enough to extract the virtues of the hay. When bacon or pork is boiled, it is a good way to preserve the liquor or broth, and mix it with the milk for the calves. Another mode of rearing calves, said to have been suggested by the Duke of Northumberland, is to take one gallon of skim-milk, and to about a pint of it add half an ounce of common treacle, stirring it until it is well mixed, then to take one ounce of linseed oil cake, finely pulverize, and with the hand let it fall gradually, in very small quantities, into the milk, stirring it in the mean time, with a spoon or ladle, until it be thoroughly incorporated; then let the mixture be put into the other part of the milk, and the whole be made nearly as warm as new milk, when it is first taken from the cow; and in that state it is fit for use. The quantity of oil-cake powder may from time to time be increased, as occasion may require, and as the calf becomes inured to the flavor of it. Crook's method is to make a jelly of one quart of linseed boiled REARING OF CALVES. ten minutes, in six quarts of water, which jelly is afterwards mixed with a small quantity of the best hay-tea; on this he rears many calves without milk. On this important subject, many individuals of careful observation, and great practical skill, in the United States, have written copiously. Our limits will permit us to notice the methods recommended by only a few. The following is the method of Mr. William Budd, which obtained the gold medal of the Agricultural Society of Massachusetts: "Take the calves, when three days old, from the cows, and put them into a stable by themselves; feed them with gruel, composed of onethird barley, two-thirds oats, ground together very fine, sifting the mixture. Each calf is to receive a quart of gruel morning and evening, and to be made in the following manner: to one quart of the flour add twelve of water, boil the mixture half an hour, let it stand until milk-warm. In ten days, tie up a bundle of soft hay in the middle of the stable, which they will eat by degrees. A little of the flour put into a small trough, for them occasionally to lick, is of service. Feed them thus till they are two months old increasing the quantity. Three bushels of the above mixture will raise six calves." Mr. Clift, of the New-York Agricultural Society, takes the calf from the cow at two or three days old; he then milks the cow, and while the milk is warm, teaches the animal to drink by holding his head down into the pail; if the calf will not drink, he puts his hand into the milk, and a finger into the mouth, till the beast learns to drink without the finger.* After he has been fed with new milk for a fortnight, the cream is taken off the milk, with which an equal or larger portion of thin flax-seed jelly is mixed, and the whole is given milk-warm. Thus, as the spring is the most favorable season for making butter, he is enabled, during the six or seven weeks the animals are kept previously to weaning, to make as much butter as they are worth; a practice which merits the attention of our farmers, to whom it will afford a very essential saving. The next method which we notice, is that practiced by the religious society denominated Shakers, at Canterbury, Ñ. H., and which appears to be highly judicious. We let calves that come in the fore part of March suck about a week or ten days, then take them from the cow, giving them a moderate allowance of new milk to drink, till they have learnt to drink it freely; then put in some skimmed milk: and we feed them wholly on skimmed milk, taking care to give it at about the temperature of milk directly taken from the cow, by heating a part of it, and mixing it with the rest. Care should be taken not to scald the milk when heated; also not to give them any sour milk, for this will make them scour. The trough *It is sometimes found difficult to teach a calf to drink or even to suck the milk by means of the fingers. This generally arises from ignorance, as to the proper manner of using the fingers. These-the first and second fingers of the right hand will be sufficient-should be so pressed upon the calf's tongue as to form a curve of the tongue, in which case the calf will invariably draw; at least, the Editor has never experienced any difficulty since he has practiced in the above way. |