Bottle calves

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skyhightree1

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I think if they get back to where they were before of 25-45 bucks I may bring in some and see how I do on them. I do miss raising a few here and there. Is anyone else thinking about fooling with them again or trying it?
 
been thinking about getting a couple i can bring home enough free waste milk from work to do it pretty cheap
 
RanchMan90":3da3tt38 said:
There wouldn't be a bad little margin if you got them bought right and had the time. You use a milk bar?

Yes I do and buckets and bottles. I was going to try using the waste milk I get from a dairy for them and that would help greatly.

ez14.":3da3tt38 said:
been thinking about getting a couple i can bring home enough free waste milk from work to do it pretty cheap

Bingo... I just need the prices on them to drop more there still pretty high around here.
 
I bought 8 broken mouth cows last summer.
They were very poor but short bred. They have been with the weaned calves on oat pasture through the fall and winter. And in fair condition.
I've got less than 500.00 a head in em. I think I'm gonna let em calve. Nurse the calves a couple weeks. And sell the cows while they are still in good shape. let the wife take over the calves...
 
callmefence":1lmnjlwt said:
I bought 8 broken mouth cows last summer.
They were very poor but short bred. They have been with the calves on oat pasture through the fall and winter. And in fair condition.
I've got less than 500.00 a head in em. I think I'm gonna let em calves . Nurse the calves a couple weeks. And sell the cows while they are still in good shape. let the wife take over the calves...

great idea
 
skyhightree1":aok0u7em said:
I think if they get back to where they were before of 25-45 bucks I may bring in some and see how I do on them. I do miss raising a few here and there. Is anyone else thinking about fooling with them again or trying it?

I leave for work every morning at or before 6:00 am, so the answer to that would be an emphatic No.
 
Going to use nurse cows. Have a three year old Jersey used for one extra calve last year and two others to have first calves this year, have to see how they bag up, and another younger sister to be bred this year. Gonna retire in a year or so, so I'll have some extra time. Some beef breeds still bringing 200 or so here.
 
cattle60":1i9m57kb said:
Going to use nurse cows. Have a three year old Jersey used for one extra calve last year and two others to have first calves this year, have to see how they bag up, and another younger sister to be bred this year. Gonna retire in a year or so, so I'll have some extra time. Some beef breeds still bringing 200 or so here.
Nurse cows can sure eat but they'll put a shine on some dink calves. I like to buy a 100-200 dink calf for the same money as a bottle baby.They're less risk of dying and faster to wean :2cents:
 
It is pretty rare to see a bottle size beef calf here. So to me bottle calf means Holsteins. You can buy Holstein bull calves here all day long for $25. The trouble is with what I see Holstein 400 weight steers selling for I couldn't make money if I got the calves for free. I have raised a lot of bottle calves in the past but I don't see myself doing that again in the near future.
 
Bought a bottle baby today at the sale barn. As usual no info came with him, I'm wondering if you can do any damage by giving him more colostrum? (He looks only a couple days old at the very most), The umbilical cord is still bloody and wet. TIA folks. I didn't want to start a new thread.
-E
 
Bar E":3ommuv2g said:
Bought a bottle baby today at the sale barn. As usual no info came with him, I'm wondering if you can do any damage by giving him more colostrum? (He looks only a couple days old at the very most), The umbilical cord is still bloody and wet. TIA folks. I didn't want to start a new thread.
-E
with a umbilical cord still wet, there is a good chance he is from a dairy that got rid of him right away and he may or may not have had colostrum so id go ahead and give him some if i had it
 
Unless I buy a calf directly off a farm, and I am even very selective of which dairies I buy from; I ALWAYS give a bought calf colostrum. Yes the experts say that they can only absorb the anti-bodies for 12- 24 hours. Why does a cow make colostrum like milk for anywhere from 1-4 days? Partly I do believe is that there is still some absorption for at least 48 hours...no not proven...but the thicker colostrum type milk first produced, also helps to get the gut tract working and the meconium plug to pass.. That has been documented. So why not???? I do have frozen colostrum from my dairy nurse cows in the freezer so it is not costing me $10-20 a bag for it.
Also, if the calf has a wet navel then it likely was just born, may/maynot have had colostrum at the dairy, they wanted it gone quickly like maybe that is the only sale that week....and is at risk for infection....make sure you dip it in iodine and watch closely for any swelling and possible joint ill. I would go on and give a bought calf like that a blackleg shot, and make sure I monitored it closely.
 
callmefence":19vv68q6 said:
I bought 8 broken mouth cows last summer.
They were very poor but short bred. They have been with the weaned calves on oat pasture through the fall and winter. And in fair condition.
I've got less than 500.00 a head in em. I think I'm gonna let em calve. Nurse the calves a couple weeks. And sell the cows while they are still in good shape. let the wife take over the calves...

If you let the calves nurse the cows a couple of weeks, will you be able to get them to take bottles? I haven't had very good luck doing that myself. If you have decent grazing, I would let them feed the calves and then wean them off smaller, like 300 lbs if they are eating well, and then ship the cows. Use some sort of a creep gate to get the calves to learn to come in for feed, and they will get over the cows being gone and will go right on eating. I have a creep gate where I calve out the first calf heifers, with a lot and a barn/shed, and by the time the calves are 2-3 months old, they are coming in on their own and will eat grain and I try to put a couple sections nice hay for them. I don't keep feed in front of them, they learn that I "am the giver of extras" and will come in. They aren't real friendly, but not real skittish either. And it makes it easier to catch them up and work them. If you could do some type of pen with a creep gate, they will like coming in to get extra and it will make them grow faster and be less likely to miss their mommas. We buy alot of short mouth thin and old cows and will let them raise their calves up to 300 lbs or so...and feeding the cows real good most don't drop off too much weight.
 
farmerjan":15wz75ww said:
callmefence":15wz75ww said:
I bought 8 broken mouth cows last summer.
They were very poor but short bred. They have been with the weaned calves on oat pasture through the fall and winter. And in fair condition.
I've got less than 500.00 a head in em. I think I'm gonna let em calve. Nurse the calves a couple weeks. And sell the cows while they are still in good shape. let the wife take over the calves...

Much appreciated. Thank you very much

If you let the calves nurse the cows a couple of weeks, will you be able to get them to take bottles? I haven't had very good luck doing that myself. If you have decent grazing, I would let them feed the calves and then wean them off smaller, like 300 lbs if they are eating well, and then ship the cows. Use some sort of a creep gate to get the calves to learn to come in for feed, and they will get over the cows being gone and will go right on eating. I have a creep gate where I calve out the first calf heifers, with a lot and a barn/shed, and by the time the calves are 2-3 months old, they are coming in on their own and will eat grain and I try to put a couple sections nice hay for them. I don't keep feed in front of them, they learn that I "am the giver of extras" and will come in. They aren't real friendly, but not real skittish either. And it makes it easier to catch them up and work them. If you could do some type of pen with a creep gate, they will like coming in to get extra and it will make them grow faster and be less likely to miss their mommas. We buy alot of short mouth thin and old cows and will let them raise their calves up to 300 lbs or so...and feeding the cows real good most don't drop off too much weight.

Much appreciated. Thank you very much
 
callmefence":1dvvy0ti said:
farmerjan":1dvvy0ti said:
callmefence":1dvvy0ti said:
I bought 8 broken mouth cows last summer.
They were very poor but short bred. They have been with the weaned calves on oat pasture through the fall and winter. And in fair condition.
I've got less than 500.00 a head in em. I think I'm gonna let em calve. Nurse the calves a couple weeks. And sell the cows while they are still in good shape. let the wife take over the calves...

Much appreciated. Thank you very much

If you let the calves nurse the cows a couple of weeks, will you be able to get them to take bottles? I haven't had very good luck doing that myself. If you have decent grazing, I would let them feed the calves and then wean them off smaller, like 300 lbs if they are eating well, and then ship the cows. Use some sort of a creep gate to get the calves to learn to come in for feed, and they will get over the cows being gone and will go right on eating. I have a creep gate where I calve out the first calf heifers, with a lot and a barn/shed, and by the time the calves are 2-3 months old, they are coming in on their own and will eat grain and I try to put a couple sections nice hay for them. I don't keep feed in front of them, they learn that I "am the giver of extras" and will come in. They aren't real friendly, but not real skittish either. And it makes it easier to catch them up and work them. If you could do some type of pen with a creep gate, they will like coming in to get extra and it will make them grow faster and be less likely to miss their mommas. We buy alot of short mouth thin and old cows and will let them raise their calves up to 300 lbs or so...and feeding the cows real good most don't drop off too much weight.

Much appreciated. Thank you very much
i read your post without thinking at first but yes calves usually have a hard time with the texture change though you might get them to take to a bucket easier
 

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