Calves

“ When a calf is born the mother and the herd usually remain in that place for two days. The calf is then capable of marching. Even at this tender age calves are no encumbrance to the herd's movement; the youngest climb hills and cross rivers, assisted by their dams. In swimming, very young calves are supported by their mothers' trunks, and are held in front of them. ”

“ When calves are caught alive, by placing your hands over the eyes and blowing into the nostrils, in the course of a few minutes they will follow the man who performs this simple operation. Indeed if a cow perchance leaves her calf behind during a time of danger, or in the chase, the calf will often await the approach of man and follow him as soon as the operation mentioned is over. ”

“ The good old days when an active young man could brand annually fifteen calves—all better than yearlings—to every cow he owned, are looked back to to this day, from cattle king to the humblest of the craft, in pleasant reminiscence, though they will come no more. ”

“ The calves, which are born of a reddish cream colour, become whiter as they increase in bulk, and are easily domesticated; but their uncertain temper renders it difficult at any time to pronounce them tame. Their horns, at first blunt and round at the tips, are soon ground to a fine needle-like point, by dint of raking and [62] whetting them against rough-stemmed trees,—thus becoming most formidable weapons, whether of offence or defence. ”

“ Nor could we fail to sympathize with their awkward, blunt-nosed baby calves, with such beautiful, wondering eyes looking out on the world and slowly getting acquainted with things, all so strange to them, and awkwardly learning to use their legs, and play and fight. ”

“ For instance, when riding you will frequently come on a two or three days' old baby snugly hidden in a bunch of long grass while the mother has gone to water. When calves get a little older you may find at mid-day, out on the prairie, some mile or two from water, a bunch of maybe forty calves. Their mammies have gone to drink; but not all of them! No, never all of them at the same time. One cow is always left to guard the helpless calves, and carries out her trust faithfully until relieved. ”

“ The calf runs to its mother, and is suffered to suck for a few minutes; they then tie it to one of its mother’s legs, and she permits herself to be milked without perceiving the change. The calves are left for a short time with their mothers, and are then shut up again in the thorn enclosure, where they remain the rest of the night and all day. ”

“ VEAL, or the flesh of calves, is highly esteemed, on account of its tender fibres; but these animals ought to be fed chiefly with milk, or hay-tea, and to be at least six weeks old, before they are used as food. Nor should the calf be confined in a dark place, or bled frequently, during the short period of its existence, with the luxurious view of rendering the flesh whiter and more palatable. ”

“ Cows have a curious fashion, sometimes, of hiding out their calves. When a cow with a young calf starts for water she invariably hides her calf in a bunch of grass or clump of bushes in some secluded spot, where it lies down and remains perfectly quiet until the mother returns. I have many times while riding the range found calves thus secreted that could scarcely be aroused or frightened away, which behavior was so different from their usual habit of being shy and running off at the slightest provocation. ”

“ THE LITTLE BULL-CALF
AND THE POPPY.
There was once a little calf who was always unhappy. He had a dear mother and two nice little white cousins, with brown ears, and a beautiful field [Pg 6] to live in, quite full of buttercups and daisies, and cow-parsley, which little calves mustn’t eat because it makes them ill, and yet he wasn’t happy. It was really because all the other cows and calves could not understand him. And this was why: this little calf loved everything that was red, and, of course, you know that cows and bulls generally hate red things. ”

“ Besides the Mare and Foal, there is the Cow and Calf, which is very common. A still more happy mother, the Cow and Two Calves, was, in 1762, a sign near Chelsea Pond; whilst a touching picture of paternal bliss might have been seen on a sign in Islington in the last century, viz., the Bull and Three Calves; that animal, doubtless, was placed there in the company of his offspring, to illustrate the homely old proverb, “He that bulls the cow must keep the calf.” ”

“ Some buffalo calves, forsaken by the herd, were running wildly over the prairie, bleating for their mothers; two of our hunters caught one of the smallest with a lariat, and brought it to me. “Here, boy,” they said, “keep this calf.”
I caught the rope and drew the calf after me; but my pony, growing frightened, reared and kicked the little animal; paying out more rope, I led the calf at a safer distance from my horse’s heels.
The hunters came straggling back, and my father seeing the calf, cried out, “Let that calf go! Buffaloes are sacred animals. You should not try to keep one captive! ”

“ One man from each firm that pastures upon this range then goes into the herd to get the calves that they find following their cows. When one is found the noose is thrown, and whether it gets the calf round the body, neck,{177} leg, or tail it is all the same; the pony is whirled and loped off to the fire, the little fellow rolling, tumbling, kicking, and bawling, but all to no purpose. ”

“ The Weaning of Calves is a process that requires a great amount of care and judgment, for though calves are in reality not weaned till between the eighth and the twelfth week, the process of rearing them by hand commences in fact from the birth, the calf never being allowed to suck its dam. ”

“ Calves—mostly, if not always, bull-calves—were largely used for food in Palestine, and in the households of the wealthy were fatted for the table. See, for example, the familiar parable of the prodigal son, in which the rejoicing father is mentioned as preparing a great feast in honour of his son's return, and ordering the fatted calf to be killed—the calf in question being evidently one of the animals that were kept in good condition against any festive occasion. ”

“ Like that tearful animal, it possesses a head and body which do not in the smallest degree appear to belong to each other. The longest, narrowest and boniest of calves' heads, so pallid and sickly in complexion, and so entirely hairless, as to appear not only dead, but neatly scraped and cleaned all ready for cooking, is joined—without the intervention of any neck to speak of—to a fat, pig-like body, very scantily clothed with short, bristly hairs. ”

“ The calf sucks, thinking it has a teat, and pretty soon it butts violently—as calves do to remind their mothers to let down the milk—and the boy’s wrist gets barked against the jagged edge of the bucket. ”

“ It may not here be out of place to direct attention to the composition of a kind of animal food extensively purchased by the poorer classes, and known under the term of slink veal. It is the flesh of calves that are killed on the first day of their existence, and also, I have reason to believe, that of very immature animals—of calves that have never breathed. ”

“ My principal duties at this season consisted in riding the range on the lookout for unbranded calves, many calves always being missed on the round-up. This was really rather good sport. Such calves are generally big, strong, fat, and run like jack-rabbits, and it takes a fast and keen pony to catch them. ”

“ He will learn to expect only kindness from his feeder and trainer. It would be well to accustom the calves to the presence of your dog, too. There are men who think a frightened animal is a humourous sight. But such a man is "no gentleman" and I certainly would never think of trusting him to drive my horses, or milk my cows, or even feed my pigs.
Our calves were kept in an old orchard, convenient to the house, with good pasture, plenty of sun and shade, and a suitable fence. A shed for wet weather is essential, for a clean, dry bed must be provided. ”

“ In these districts, where, probably, the feeding and management of calves is as well and judiciously conducted as in any other part of Britain, the farmers’ wives and daughters, or female domestics, have the principal charge of young calves; and they are, no doubt, much better calculated for this duty than men, since they are more inclined to be gentle and patient. ”

“ You see calves have got no sense, and run anywhere—under your horse's legs or anywhere else; while the cows don't pay much attention to them till they get to the end of the march. Then they begin to bawl for their calves to come to them, and the calves begin to bawl for their mothers, and I tell you that for a bit there is such a row going on that you would think the end of the world had come. Two thousand cows and as many calves can kick up a row, you bet, that will well-nigh scare you. ”

“ Their aggregate weight was 4300 pounds.
We extract the following from the London Veterinarian, for 1854:—"A cow, belonging to Mr. John Marshall, of Repton, on Wednesday last, gave birth to five, live healthy calves, all of which are, at the time I write, alive and vigorous, and have every appearance of continuing so. They are all nearly of a size, and are larger and stronger than could be supposed. Four of them are bull-calves. [253]
"The dam is by no means a large one, is eleven years old, of a mongrel breed, and has never produced more than one offspring at any previous gestation. ”

“ He supports himself by his own resources when in a state of nature, and never loses the qualities relative to the service of man. The young wild calves, which are taken from their mothers in India or Africa, become in a very short time, as tractable as those of the domestic kind; and this natural conformity is another striking proof of the identity of the species. ”

“ The legs of both men and women have a fleshy substance behind, which are called calves, which nature hath given them (as in our book of living creatures we have observed) in lieu of those long tails which most other creatures have pendent behind. Now a great calf, and he whose legs are of a great bone, and hairy withal, denotes the person to be strong, bold, secure, dull in understanding, and slow in business, inclined to procreation, and for the most part fortunate in his undertakings. ”

“ The calves of the kraal are under the care of the boys, and a good deal of time is passed in training them to run and to obey signals made by whistling. The boys mount them when they are eighteen months or two years old, and race about upon their backs. When the boys are engaged in any sport, one of the [221] number is selected by lot to tend the calves. As many blades of grass as there are boys are taken, and a knot is made on the end of one of them. ”

“ The calves are a rich reddish-fawn in ground-colour, with a dark mark down the back, black patches on the insides of the fore-legs, and eight or nine conspicuous white stripes on each side,”
[204]
As these striped Elands grow up, Mr. Selous continues, they differ considerably one from another. Both bull and cow become of a bluish grey as their coats become thinner with age, and at a little distance the white stripes are often indistinguishable, although as long as there is any hair left they can always be seen on close inspection. ”

“ The cattle, thus roaming over extensive plains, and free of all restraint, necessarily require to be occasionally collected together for the purpose of branding and marking the young calves, which increase there with astonishing rapidity. ”

“ THE CALF—The flesh of this animal is called veal, and when young, that is, under two months old, yields a large quantity of soluble extract, and is, therefore, much employed for soups and broths. The Essex farmers have obtained a celebrity for fattening calves better than any others in England, where they are plentifully supplied with milk, a thing impossible to be done in the immediate neighbourhood of London. ”

“ The calves want to wander about, and the cows who haven't found their young ones keep trying to slip off to take the back track, and you have got to be always on the watch for them. Take it altogether, I would rather drive a beef herd than a cow herd. ”

“ Just one two-year-old heifer was absent at roll-call the first year—lost, strayed, or unavoidably detained. Three calves died of blackleg, and one muddied the water-supply on a lobo-wolf, or otherwise gave him causus belly. ”

“ Hallo! here come the calves, the two-year-olds, just turned out of the barn into the pasture, after six months of cold victuals. What a miserable-looking set, to be sure! A breaking up of a hard winter, that's certain ; sharp bones sticking out like elbows ”

“ The young calves, too, are the smallest beasts for the size they afterwards attain, and must take a long while growing. Such tinies are they that I have had them run under my pony, and touched their little pinky bodies with my foot—poor morsels! I never could shoot the female with any satisfaction, and I think I never did at all but twice; males were plentiful enough. ”

“ The miserably developed calves of many of the savages of Australia, Africa, and America are well known. The fine, swelling gastroenemius and soleus muscles characterize the highest races, and are most remote from the slender shanks of the monkeys. ”

“ They have just enough life at birth to exist a few hours and show the symptoms described, and such calves are usually the offspring of cows that, during pregnancy, have been incompletely nourished upon timothy or swale hay, or coarse fodder, without an adequate supply of other foods to balance the ration; or similar calves may come from fat, flabby, corn-stuffed, beef-bred cows. ”