Have been "lurking" here for quite a while and a found that MOST of the advice/info here has been very helpful. I hoping that someone may have some input on what we are considering doing. To make a long story short-we had some of our cows calve early (January/Feburary) and ended up pulling frozen calves from their mommas because it was 20-30 below here. Needless to say- we ended up with bottle babies or lost them. While we don't like bottle babies a live calf as opposed to a dead one is fine with us. We are now looking at "normal" calving time. We thought maybe we could put them back with the herd once weaned. Has anyone ever tried this-results? Thanks for any input!
Bottle babies
- Thread starter Beef89
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Beef89":3443kq4e said:
That is going to depend on your idea of what "weaned" is. We didn't put replacement heifers back with the main herd until they were due to calve as 2 year olds, and even then we had a few problems with them nursing their mothers.
therehegoes
Member
Beef89":b44wss7q said:
As you'll probably find out, a beef calf raised by hand versus by its mother ends up ypically quite stunted compares to those of similar age...at least thats what I found the few times I did it. True...better than dead...although your time is worth something too. Unless you can somehow get a resonable, comparable frame on a hand raised calf, I'd never breed it.
Here in our part of Wisconsin I see the most calves between April and June. Some don't feel its as profitable a time to calf as others, but calving earlier for me (we used to begin calving in January, done by March) meant a considerably larger amount of management and time. IT was nice though, as less was going on that time of the year, so I could watch everyone more carefully, shelter if needed, etc. In the end I just spent too much time glued to the weather channel and dealing w/ unwilling mothers I was trying to get to shelter as fronts moved in. And I got sick of short eared cattle! :nod:
therehegoes":bgy0vlui said:
If any calf, bottle or mother raised, doesn;t grow to it's genetic ability it's a managemt/nutritional problem. A beef calf raised the same as a Holstein by a good dairyman will be just as well developed as any other calf. It takes more time and effort to bottle raise a good calf then letting the cow do the job, but if someone isn;t willing to raise them properly why raise them at all?
therehegoes
Member
dun":8jgb48nq said:
I did not recommend not feeding it well and raising it to its potential. All I said is that I've raised several beef calves by hand, according to all recommended nutritional needs and they have always ended up smaller framed and undersized compared to calves of similar age raised by their mothers. Perhaps I'm alone, but to me it wasn't a surprise as I don't think beef calves have been genetically adapted to grow as well away from the the nutrition of the mothers milk and good pasture. Dairy calves on the other hand have been handled this way for many, many generations obviously. No management/nutritional issues when I raised these calves. And I'll raise one if I need to but I will not expect a comparable calf. By the way...how can a typical dairyman (unless they have a beef herd on the side) have any idea if that beef calf is comparable in growth to a similar age calf raised by the mother?
We've raised dairy, beef and dairyXbeef calves when managed the same the grow to their potential. Most people raising beef calves don;t pay attention to the calfs nutritional requirements as a dairyman does. For that matter, a lot of dairyman don;t pay attention to a bottle fed beef calf like they do the dairy calves. If a diary calf is raised the same as a beeff calf they will both develop to their potential or not depending on how well managed their nutritional needs are met. It ain;t rocket science it does take proper managment.
Raise your expectations and a properly raised calf will surprise you by meeting them. The real problem is that to raise a beef calf properly is expensive and the dollar value of the calf rarely matches the cost.
Raise your expectations and a properly raised calf will surprise you by meeting them. The real problem is that to raise a beef calf properly is expensive and the dollar value of the calf rarely matches the cost.
Beef89":2ofox15b said:
We had an outbreak of listeriosis last spring and pulled 3 calves off their mothers. They were from 4 to 6 weeks old. The 6 week old had been eating grain, so he wasn't put on milk, just went straight to grain. The other two were put on bottles until eating grain well enough to eliminate the milk. When they were 3 months old we put them in with a small group, about a dozen pairs. A creep feeder was available and kept filled with good creep feed. It worked out just fine. All three are being kept as replacement stock, 1 bull & 2 heifers. You can't tell which ones were bottled, and which ones weren't, they're yearlings now.
Mixing ages of calves can be problematic as far as disease. Younger ones are more prone to scours that way. Watch for your bottle calves robbing milk from younger calves mothers. Most of our cows kicked off the bottle calves, but didn't hurt them. The bottle calves still sneaked some milk but not regularly enough to deprive the younger calves. An advantage is your bottle calves teaching the younger ones to eat creep. Make sure there is always fresh water available for the weaned calves, a tank half full might be too low for the weaned ones to reach the water.
