CALF. The word signifies to throw out or vomit, thus the groove made in sawing, is called the saw-calf or carf. It also signifies a protuber ance, as the calf of the leg—the swell of the mus cles between the ankle and .knee. It is among animals applied to the young of the bovine species, and among fishes to the young of the whale, and other warm-blooded species. In the rearing of calves, the farmer must have in view the purpose for which they are intended. If for beef, the young animals should be pushed forward, from.
the time of birth, a,s fast as possible, and as they begin to eat solid food, should early be learned to eat gram. The bulls should be castrated at from four to six weeks old, and the females spayed when they arrive at an age to bring them in heat. When the young are intended for working oxen, the dairy, or for breeding, it is not well that they be pushed so strongly, as when intended for beef. When they are intended for veal they should have the same — care as when intended for beef, being fully fed with new milk, until six weeks or two mou ths old, when they are ready for slaugh ter. Some feeders for veal, especially dairy men, remove the calf from the cow at two or three days, or a week old, and feed by hand, giving new milk for about ten days, and afterwards skimmed milk , and later butter milk, supplemented with the mush of fine corn meal, and oil meal may be used. Thus, if placed in a clean, airy, but some what dark, pen they become very fat. When intended for breeders, calves should have the same general treatment, but should be allowed to take full exercise. They should be kept in a well shaded pasture, with shelter where they may escape from the flies. This shel ter should be dark, which will ex clude insects.
Another shelter should be sup plied, to which they can retire at will — sim ply a structure covered with boughs but ad mitting the air freely — the ob ject sou,,o.ht be ing shade, and a cool retreat.
Thus they will soon learn to seek the dark quarter secure from flies, or the other light er, cooler shade for rest. In rearing calves for breeders or milk, or when the steers are intended for working oxen, there is no objection to their running with their dams and taking the inilk. In this case there will be no necessity to give grain the first summer. When weaned, which should be at the age of four to six months, they should be learned to eat grain—oats preferably—and during the first winter should have sufficient grain to keep them growing, but not fat ; simply in good muscular oondition. The same rule will apply to breeders and animals destined to become dairy cows. They should not be kept fat, but in good growing, mus cular condition. See articles an Cattle; Dairy, IStock, Working Cattle, etc. Upon the sub ject of thorough-breds Mr. .Charles Lowder, of Indiana, at a convention of Short-Horn Breeders, in relation to the management of calves, held the following: Upon the care bestowed upon them during the first year of their lives depends their size and value as neat cattle. Abuse and ill-treat ment during the early life of the calf can never be overcome in subsequent years. The calf, when dropped. should be allowed to remain from twenty four to forty-eight hours with the dam, unless some very extraordinary circumstances make it necessary to remove it. Calves will, in a majority -of cases, get upon their feet and take the teats in due time; bat if one should be too weak from any 'cause to be up within one or two hours after birth, some of the first milk or biestings should be drawn from the cow and given to it. If the cow should, from after pain or mere indifference, fail to give it proper attention, the herdsman should have it well rubbed with a woolen cloth until dry, and its hair nicely laid by means of a camel-hair brush. After one or two days the calf should be removed from the cow and taken to the stall, where it should be tied fast by means of a leather strap .around the neck, or with a head-halter rnade to fit, which is preferable. It should be allowed to suck the teat three times a day until about two weeks old, and should be led to and from the cow by the halter. If it has been well handled it will by this time be quite gentle and well broken. It may now be turned out so as to have fresh air, sunlight, and plenty of exercise. If a steer, and intended to be fed for the shambles, this exercise is not necessary. In that case the more quiet and com fortable he can be kept, and the more highly fed, the greater will be the net profits. If the calf, whether male or female, is to be grown to matur ity for breeding purposes, the treatment should be quite different. In the first place the object is to develop the greatest possible amount of soft flesh and fat without any rcgard to the healthy development of the vital organs, as the heart, lungs, liver, etc. In the latter case due regard must, be had for the uniform development and per fect health of every organ and part of the system. Without exercise the muscular part of the system of young and growing animals is not fully devel oped, and in the mature animal becomes enfeebled. The heart, being no exception to the law, becomes to some extent diseased, while the liver and kid neys share the same fate. With. all the vital organs enfeebled, the animal is not prepared to with stand the sudden change of temperature to which it is sometimes exposed. As like tends to produce like, animals with diseased and enfeebled vital organs should not be selected to breed from. Those engaged in rearing calves have several things to take into consideration If the cow is an inferior beef-breed, the milk from her may be worth morc to make into butter or cheese than to be given to the calf. In that case the calf should be sent to the butcher as soon as old enough to kill But if the calf is of good beef-stock, and is to be raised to maturity for that purpose, or to breed from, it should be allowed to suck twice a day until four, fi ve, or six rnonths old. If an early spring calf, it will learn to eat grass during the .surniner, and can be weaned in the fall without much, if any, loss of flesh. If a fall calf, it will soon learn to eat oats, hay, bran, or sheltered corn, and as the grass starts in the spring it can be weaned without any check to its growth, the grass answering the place of milk to some extent. When calves are allowed to suck twice a day, care should be taken that they do not get too much milk, as they may become sick, and fail to make as great gains as they would on a less quantity. In case of scours, a little chalk well powdered and placed in a trough, or in some place where it will attract their attention, will frequently be of good service to them.
Calves intended for steers should be castrated when about two weeks old. The male calves that are to be reared and kept for breeding purposes, should be removed from the females at one or two months old, and placed in a lot inclosed by a permanent fence, and should not be allowed to run with other cattle afterwards. The heifers at one year old should be removed from all other cattle, and placed in a lot by them selves. At this age, if they have been well fed, they will express their desire for male company, by a great deal of restlessness. If allowed to run with steers or older females they will be worried a great deal to no purpose. Heifers fifteen or eighteen months old are much more likely to get in calf than when they are kept from breeding until two or two and a half years old, especially if they are fed highly on grain, and are inclined to take on fat. The milking qualities of heifers depend much upon the kind and amount of food they receive while carrying their first calf. They should be in perfect health and in a thriving condition, and kept in full flesh until after calving. If they have been properly handled while calves, and up to the time when they are milked the first time, there will be no trouble in breaking them. In relation to the artificial feeding of calves, the following will be interesting: Prof. E. W. Stewart, New York, fed a miscellaneous lot of ten calves wholly upon skim-milk. The milk was all weighed daily and the calves each week. It required of milk for one pound gain—first week, 11.02 pounds; second week, 12.18 pounds; third week, 13 17 pounds; fourth week, 13.40 pounds; fifth week, 14 60 pounds; sixth week, 15.05 pounds; seventh week, 16.71 pounds; eighth week, 16.80 pounds; ninth week, 17.01 pounds; &nth week, 16.08 pounds; eleventh week, 16 pounds; twelfth week, 15.90 pounds. The decrease of milk to make one pound live weight, beginning the tenth week, was caused by the calves learning to eat grass. These calves were each weighed separately, as was the milk fed to each, and the gain was very unequal in different calves, as they were not a uniform lot; but the result stated is the average of the ten. In further illustrating this subject, Mr. A. L. Bradbury, of New ork State, in reply to the question, How soon can we begin to substitute other food than milk for our calves? answered: Not the first week, for the calf should have the milk of its darn for one week at least. Now, if we wish to commence to substitute something instead of milk, lie must be taken from the cow and taught to drink and feed the same elements of nutrition the milk contains. One quart of milk contains about one and a half ounces of butter, one ounce of sugar, one and a half ounces of caseine, and seventy grains of bone matter. Experiments have shown that one pound of oil or fat is equal to two and a half pounds of starch or sugar; thus one quart of milk contains of flesh-forming material one and a half ounces, of fat or heat-giving material four and one-eighth ounces, or a Sofa] of five and five-eighth ounces of nutritive elements. New, if we .ta.ke out one ounce of butter to a quart of milk, we shall have removed one-half of its value for the calf, which we must make up in quantity by doubling up, or substituting starch in the form of buckwheat flour, at the rate of two and a half 'ounces for every ounce of butter taken away. The better plan is to gradually substitute skimmed milk for' the new by adding new milk with warna skimmed milk for its morning and evening meals, and giving it skimmed milk at noon, for it should be fed three times per day at least. When the calf is four weeks old it will do well enough on skimmed milk alone, provided it can have enough, with always keeping good sweet hay by it. Reared in this way, we have our milk for use in the dairy and get much better calves than in the ordinary way of letting them draw the milk themselves until they are ten or twelve weeks old, then taking them away at once. A calf should not be weaned until it is four or five months old. In a cheese-dairy whey and oatmeal can be substituted for skimmed milk, after the calf is two months old, with good success. Another method of raising calves is as follows: For the first week I let them have half of the milk; then I take them off and teach them to drink r let the milk stand from twenty-four to thirty-six hours, skim it, warm it milk-warm, and give it to them, six quarts to a feed, twice a day for the first week or fortnight; then I in •crease the quantity so as to give them all that the cow will give. When they are about four weeks old, I put a little shorts, oatmeal, or oats, cooked potatoes or crusts of bread, in a trough -vvhere they can get at it. After they get so as to eat too much, I allowance them to about a pint and a half of oats a day, or something equivalent; and so right on until they are six or eight months .old, increasing the feed. I give them milk until they are four months old. If yoti want to carry the calves up to great growth early, keep them up for eight months; but I usually turn them •out to grass when four months old. The first winter I feed some roots with good dry grass, not hay. I have by this system of feeding ma lured my Jersey calves at seventeen months old. Mr. L. C. Fisher, of Vermont, raises calves as follows: At the age of two days old he takes the calf from the cow, and teaches it to drink its own dam's milk mixed with skimmed milk twelve hours old. At the age of ten days lie feeds it exclusively with skimmed milk twelve 'hours old; at fifteen days, twenty-four hours; at two months, thirty-six; at three months, thick milk, with what dry shorts it will take. As often as once in six weeks he dissolves a piece of saltpeter, as large as a robin's egg, in the milk. He says: With plenty of milk, shorts, early-cut lay, water, and exercise, a calf can be grown from two to three pounds a day for a year. It will be seen from the extracts given, that the testimony of experts is in one direction to feed well, having consideration to the use intended. Yet not one farmer in one hundred does this, and hence the great bulk of calves are allowed to shift for themselves to a great extent, the owners -depending upon extra feed at some time in the future, or else upon selling the immature animals to other feeders. The loss, however, always comes upon the individual who has failed in his duty while the animal was young; the loss of flesh during the vvinter having to be regained during the summer,. so that the animal must be kept OT1O OT Off° yeaTs .extra tO Tnake Tip this loss. A loss in fact never fully recovered.