MM, I sure wasn't trying to imply anything with my comment. I know some calves will come out looking good on grain but replacer is what has worked for us. It is expensive and that is why I work my butt off to make sure we don't have orphans.
In the past I have kept them on the bottle. I think that sucking is good for them. We never keep them in the corral just put them in the field with the herd and the buckets with nipples don't work too well in the field. I am tough on the calves, I don't let them get away with anything and they get a lot of hard shoves when they are young to teach them who is boss and thank goodness when they grow up they think I am bigger than them.