Feeding Calves

Categories: Feeding Farm Animals

How soon can calves be weaned and not hinder their growth? After

weaning, what would you advise to feed them?



After the calf has once nursed, it should be taken away from its mother,

but fed its mother's milk for a few days, depending on the vigor of the

calf. Commence to add skim-milk after a week or ten days, adding a small

amount at first and increasing it daily until the calf is on an entirely

skim-mi k diet. The milk must be sweet, it must be as warm as its

mother's milk and the calf must not have too much of it. Four quarts at

a feed twice a day is sufficient for the average sized calf for the

first month, then increase it accordingly. Add a spoonful of ground

flaxseed to each feed and teach the calf to eat a little grain as soon

as possible. Ground barley is the most economical feed to balance a

ration containing so much skim-milk. If calves show a tendency to

looseness of the bowels, feed less milk, and when this does not remedy

the trouble, heat some skim-milk to boiling and when it is cooled to a

proper temperature feed this to the calf. A good grain ration to feed

calves along with skim-milk is ground barley with green alfalfa hay.

When the milk is cut off, feed barley and bran soaked with molasses

water. Put a pint of molasses in a pail of water and dampen feed with

it. This amount will dampen three bushels of feed. - W. M. Carruthers.