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.