ImperfectHomesteader
Member
- Joined
- May 16, 2017
- Messages
- 5
- Reaction score
- 0
We bought Abbi at 1 week of age, she was on her mom for 4 days and a bottle for the 3 right before we got her. She was a twin to a bull calf - so chances are she's a freemartin (although my fingers are crossed she's not...) She'll go to "freezer camp" or if we got lucky she'll join our small herd (3 cow calf pairs).
We feed 2 bottles per day, 4qts each feeding of milk replacer, she has water, hay, calf starter available and is on green pasture. We have a creep gate on her pen so she can come & go as she wants & the cows aren't in her grain- nor are their calves- they have no interest. She seems to be doing very well. She is out with the cow/calf pairs on pasture and comes in for her bottle and then leaves again on her own. She's grazing with the others on pasture.
My question: Everything I have read & heard states she NEEDS grain starter. She nibbles at it, maybe a few mouth fulls but other than that she seems content and happy to be on grass. Even if I hand feed her the grain she isn't interested in much.
Part of me says I need to just let her be & quit worrying. If she was hungry she'd eat it. She is typically excited when I call for her with the bottle - but since being on pasture she's not quite as excited. She used to be moo'ing & eagerly waiting for the bottle at feeding times, now I have to call her or go find her out in the pasture. I don't think she's "stealing"/nursing on any of the cows- she's typically near them but not anywhere close enough to nurse. The calves on their cows are 3 & 4 mo old already.
Thoughts? Am I OK to just let her be? We just bought another bag of replacer, so our thought is we'll bottle feed her for another 3-4 weeks, weaning down to just 1 bottle in about 3 weeks. She'll be about 3 mo when we fully wean her from the bottle.
We feed 2 bottles per day, 4qts each feeding of milk replacer, she has water, hay, calf starter available and is on green pasture. We have a creep gate on her pen so she can come & go as she wants & the cows aren't in her grain- nor are their calves- they have no interest. She seems to be doing very well. She is out with the cow/calf pairs on pasture and comes in for her bottle and then leaves again on her own. She's grazing with the others on pasture.
My question: Everything I have read & heard states she NEEDS grain starter. She nibbles at it, maybe a few mouth fulls but other than that she seems content and happy to be on grass. Even if I hand feed her the grain she isn't interested in much.
Part of me says I need to just let her be & quit worrying. If she was hungry she'd eat it. She is typically excited when I call for her with the bottle - but since being on pasture she's not quite as excited. She used to be moo'ing & eagerly waiting for the bottle at feeding times, now I have to call her or go find her out in the pasture. I don't think she's "stealing"/nursing on any of the cows- she's typically near them but not anywhere close enough to nurse. The calves on their cows are 3 & 4 mo old already.
Thoughts? Am I OK to just let her be? We just bought another bag of replacer, so our thought is we'll bottle feed her for another 3-4 weeks, weaning down to just 1 bottle in about 3 weeks. She'll be about 3 mo when we fully wean her from the bottle.