10 week old bottle fed question

[Larisa]

I'm raising a few bottlefed holstien calves & have a question. I have 2 that are about 8 or 10 weekd old. They were drinking 1 whole bottle twice a day. When they got 7 weeks I cut them down to half a bottle & feed. A freind says I shouldn't do this. I should feed them a whole bottle & feed pellets till they eat both for a few days. He's just turned some of his out & stopped bottle feeding & his were at least 2 or 3 weeks older than mine are. Isn't this too long to bottle feed?
Thanks for your suggestions & your experiences.
Larisa
in NE MS

 

[milkmaid]

I've weaned as early as 6-7 weeks; last group I weaned was 10-11 weeks on a nurse cow. Most folks wean as early as possible because milk replacer is expensive. If you had the $$$ and wanted to, you could feed them milk for 6 months - that's how long beef calves stay on their dams. I know of one 4H steer that nursed until he was nearly 1200lbs.

Most important thing is that they are eating a significant amount of grain and hay. When I start weaning, I'll usually cut back to a bottle a day for a few days, then to half the amount of powder so what they're getting is just milk-flavored hot water. That's gradual enough they don't get too stressed when you stop giving them millk.

 

[Larisa]

Thank you! That is what I thought. Both of these were eating about 2 1/2 cups of pellets twice a day & eating hay. Man, do I know how expensive that milk replacer is!
What do all of you do about worming? I was told I should have already wormed. Then worm again in 2 weeks.
The guy that is advising me is pretty new to this himself & I think is putting in way too much $ on these babies.
Thank again!

 

[milkmaid]

I use ivermectin (brand-Ivomec) for deworming, as do most folks. And yes, it's good to worm early, but I know I don't always do things the way they ought to be done either. You put it off until "tomorrow", and before you know it they're 400lbs. :shock: :lol:

 

[jerry27150]

i used to wean my holstein calves at 6 weeks if they were eating 4-6 lbs of grain. shouldn't have a worm problem if they have not been out on pasture

 

[Medic24]

We wean as early as 4 weeks in the warmer months, and not usually later then 6 weeks at any time, as was said before, you can't just take them off cold turkey, you need to see that they are eating grain well. and if in doubt, you can always suppliment the grain with some dry powder milk replacer for a while. that will also help sweeten the grain up, thus they should eat more.

Of course if you get a stubborn one that just wont eat grain as well as he should at first, you may need to continue the bottle for a bit, but give him periods of time were he will feel hungry and would be more likly to eat grain. You may want to wean down to a single bottle a day, preferably at nite, so that they are quiet through the nite, or you can start mixing in greater amounts of water until that is almost all they are getting, that in itself will produce the hunger as well.

Just don't starve any thinking that they will all wean off at the same time and do as great as the best ones you have. there is no cookie cutter operation when it comes to bottle feeding calves.

We suppliment all of our calves with inexpensive yogurt from day 1 (walmart plain or vanilla)...it's almost the same as probios, and helps to not only kick start the rumen, but it very nuitritional as well.

Remember, that what ever feed changes you make with your calves, and cattle for that matter needs to be slow, meaning that you want to give the rumen time to change it's 'flora' to be able to properly digest what you are feeding it.

 

[Larisa]

Thank all of you for your advice. I will certainly heed it.

I did know that I had to wean them off & to make sure that they were eating ok before taking the bottle away. I have other animals but this is my first experience with calves.
This has proved to be a great board to get some godd advice on. Thank all of you for coming to my rescue!

 

[dun]

I frequently see pot bellied calves from people that insure they're eating a couple of pounds of grain at weaning, turn them ou to pasture or put them on hay and quit feeding the grain. They still need that grain for a while after weaning. That's their real protein/energy source once the milk is gone.

dun

 

[Farmhand]

? for dun.

Could you please explain what you do with the yogurt? I had not heard of this before and was wondering if I should be doing this with my bottle calves. We have mostly holstein calves but do occasionaly have beef calves. Appreciate any help you can give. Thanks!

 

[dun]

? for dun.

Could you please explain what you do with the yogurt? I had not heard of this before and was wondering if I should be doing this with my bottle calves. We have mostly holstein calves but do occasionaly have beef calves. Appreciate any help you can give. Thanks!

What I do with yogurt is try not to be disgusted when I see someone eating the nasty stuff. There are people that use it as a calf supplement to get bacteria going in a calfs guts. I don't happen to be one of them

dun

 

[Farmhand]

Sorry dun. I got messed up on who said what. I appreciate you answering all the same though.

Medic 24 - could you let me in on this yogurt idea please.