these matters, he will be fully paid in the rapid
growth of his calves. It is especially necessary to see that the troughs
from which they are fed, if troughs are used, are kept clean and sweet.

But there are some--even among intelligent farmers--who make a practice
of turning their calves out to pasture at the tender age of two or three
weeks--and that, too, when they have sucked the cow up to that time--and
allow them nothing in the shape of milk and tender care. This,
certainly, is the poorest possible economy, to say nothing of the
manifest cruelty of such treatment. The growth of the calf is checked,
and the system receives a shock from so sudden a change, from which it
cannot soon recover. The careful Dutch breeders bring the calves either
skimmed milk or buttermilk to drink several times a day after they are
turned to grass, which is not till the age of ten or twelve weeks; and,
if the weather is chilly, the milk is warmed for them. They put a
trough generally under a covering, to which the calves may come and
drink at regular times. Thus, they are kept tame and docile.

In the raising of calves, through all stages of their growth, great care
should be taken neither to starve nor to over-feed. A calf should never
be surfeited, and never be fed so highly that it cannot be fed more
highly as it advances. The most important part is to keep it growing
thriftily without getting too fat, if it is to be raised for the dairy.

The calves in the dairy districts of Scotland are fed on the milk, with
seldom any admixture; and they are not permitted to suck their dams, but
are taught to drink milk by the hand from a dish. They are generally fed
on milk only for the first four, five, or six weeks, and are then
allowed from two to two and a half quarts of new milk each meal, twice
in the twenty-four hours. Some never give them any other food when young
except milk, lessening the quantity when the calf begins to eat grass or
other food, which it generally does when about five weeks old, if grass
can be had; and withdrawing it entirely about the seventh or eighth week
of the calf's age. But, if the calf is reared in winter, or early in
spring, before the grass rises, it must be supplied with at least some
milk until it is eight or nine weeks old, as a calf will not so soon
learn to eat hay or straw, nor fare so well on them alone as it will on
pasture. Some feed their calves reared for stock partly with meal mixed
in the milk