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Bottle calf....When to start weaning?
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<blockquote data-quote="Lucky_P" data-source="post: 1461572" data-attributes="member: 12607"><p>We always tried to have bottle calves weaned by 4-6 weeks; earlier the better. Milk replacer feeding is the most expensive and labor-intensive part of raising them. I'd have good quality calf-starter ration available from Day One... and would cram a handful in the calf's mouth after every feeding - and any other time I happened to be passing by. </p><p>Once they're eating about a pound and a half of grain ration per day, you can just stop the bottle and bump up grain consumption pretty rapidly. </p><p></p><p>Dairy nutritionists/rumen physiologists have been, for years, recommending AGAINST feeding hay prior to 8 weeks of age(maybe even later)... grain consumption drives rumen functional development and capacity much faster than consuming indigestible forage materials like hay. </p><p>I guess feeding hay to those younger calves is part of what causes so many of them to have that pot-bellied appearance that's so common.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lucky_P, post: 1461572, member: 12607"] We always tried to have bottle calves weaned by 4-6 weeks; earlier the better. Milk replacer feeding is the most expensive and labor-intensive part of raising them. I'd have good quality calf-starter ration available from Day One... and would cram a handful in the calf's mouth after every feeding - and any other time I happened to be passing by. Once they're eating about a pound and a half of grain ration per day, you can just stop the bottle and bump up grain consumption pretty rapidly. Dairy nutritionists/rumen physiologists have been, for years, recommending AGAINST feeding hay prior to 8 weeks of age(maybe even later)... grain consumption drives rumen functional development and capacity much faster than consuming indigestible forage materials like hay. I guess feeding hay to those younger calves is part of what causes so many of them to have that pot-bellied appearance that's so common. [/QUOTE]
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Bottle calf....When to start weaning?
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