bottle baby

[KNERSIE]

The difference between a bottle calf that is raised to the best of my ability on the right compared to a calf about a week younger raised on a good cow without any supplement on sourveld. The calf on the left and his dam has been pulled in on Monday to be AI-d, they weren't on planted pasture before this week.

 

[S&WSigma40VEShooter]

Bottle feeding really does stunt em. Proof is in the picture puddin.

 

[angie1]

Bottle feeding really does stunt em. Proof is in the picture puddin.

Nah, too many variables regardless. All that it proves is that KNERSIE would be on the cull list for raising a calf that turns out less than his counterparts. :lol2: It takes more time than most people have. If you pay yourself for your time, it takes more time that what it is worth. It is easy to underestimate the cows job until you have to do it. Still think 0904 will taste good though. :nod:

 

[hillsdown]

I have to agree with Angie. Bottle feeding is an effort and time consuming. You can't just give them a bottle twice a day and leave them on pasture and expect them to gain the same as their contemporaries. (not that this is what you did, I am replying to S&W post) I think the only way you could even get close to being as good as mom with just milk and grass is if you had a free range milk bar set up and the calf could come drink as much as it wanted anytime it wanted and use real milk that is high in protein and fat.

Knersie how do you know that maybe the calf just isn't as good genetically as the one raised by mom, maybe that is all you could get out of that calf even if it was raised by mom.

Still a nice calf and will taste really good too.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

Knersie how do you know that maybe the calf just isn't as good genetically as the one raised by mom, maybe that is all you could get out of that calf even if it was raised by mom.

I was thinking along similar lines. I have a cow out in the pastures now, #528, that was bottle raised (she's had 3 calves so far). Going with the theory that had she been raised by her momma, and looking at the pics of those two Herf calves, then had #528 been raised by her momma, she'd have grown to be one heck of a monster-sized cow.

Not all bottle babies are the same. I have had a few that did not do as well as their contemporaries.

Katherine

 

[aussie_cowgirl]

That's right, some calves, no matter how well you feed them, don't take to bottle feeding. But then I was at the state show last week and the junior champion red angus bull who had an eye muscle of 123cm2 was actually a bottle calf. He was smaller than the other BUT he was also more filled out than the other one from the same stud. If you saw him, you would not have picked he was a bottle calf.

 

[Australian]

Once upon a time in our herd and others you could tell a bottle or bucket fed calf from the rest but now we can't tell the difference. Often they were pot bellied and did stand out. We start them off on half strength bought milk ( not powder) to this we add 2 or 3 hens eggs, some sugar is added for the first couple of days then we stop that. Feed them five times a day for the first two weeks them get them back to 3 times a day till about a month to 6 weeks then onto twice daily. We give them custom mix ( a grain mix with corn,sorghum,barley etc) just a little taste to start off with. They never ever get grain before they have their milk. They have lucerne hay to nibble on as well. We feed them til they are about 9 months old. We have a bucket reared South Devon steer that is 2 years old now and weighs 800kgs he is the same weight as some of our SD bulls in the same paddock.

 

[cfpinz]

The cow in the picture (with her first calf at side) lost her mom when she was a couple weeks old. We didn't have a good place to keep her at the time so my wife's parents raised her for us. I'd say they did a pretty good job.

 

[Australian]

Nice cow, has done the job.

 

[regolith]

That's fairly typical of the difference I've seen the few times I let a cow rear calves. They tend to be leaner and framier.

Although it's convenient, I'm no real fan of putting babies in a shed either. They feel 'soft' compared to the ones left outside.

 

[S&WSigma40VEShooter]

Bottle feeding really does stunt em. Proof is in the picture puddin.

Nah, too many variables regardless. All that it proves is that KNERSIE would be on the cull list for raising a calf that turns out less than his counterparts. :lol2: It takes more time than most people have. If you pay yourself for your time, it takes more time that what it is worth. It is easy to underestimate the cows job until you have to do it. Still think 0904 will taste good though. :nod:

Oh no doubt he will taste good.