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Perfect delivery. Nice 62# heifer

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Got some liquid gold put in the freezer from the back 2 quarters waiting for a load to freeze dry to have on hand. So far so good. Grabbed the placenta and put it on the graft calf and that for the moment seems to have done the trick. They are separated with panels from mom who keeps stepping on the newborn. Regular nursings for the next few days to prevent over eating. Will milk as needed for the next few days.
 
Momma is a milking machine. Up to 3 gallons last night. She's doing great. Fallen right back into it. The steer graft calf has been fighting scours (overeating I believe) but thanks to wonderful members here who helped with a previous scour graft calf last year we had everything on hand and tackled it quickly. He's doing great now. The heifer now has the same scours. Hitting it hard. Hopefully she will be better in the next few days. We have storms coming again so I am worried that will not help. It's been in the 80's for a bit now. Sure wish I knew why these dairy calves always seem to fight scours in the first few weeks of life. The dairy I fill in on says 10 days is about average for scours to set in on their bottle fed calves. Never really have these issues in beef calves so it's a bit frustrating to deal with this almost like clockwork. Even the beef cross graft later last season didn't have scours like this. Gotta be a dairy calf thing I guess.
 
Double R Ranch said:
Did you get a few calves yet? :LOL:
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No, full time in town job, working with mama getting back home, and this old girl kicked the never mind out of a calf we tried last year. She's still got plenty, but the first freshening engorgement is improved and calf is making headway.
If I remember right, as a heifer this girl had the edema along the milk vein in front of her udder…calf will just have to grow faster😆
 
MurraysMutts said:
@Double R Ranch it seems to be hit or miss for me on the scours thing.

A good chunk of my calves bought never even scour at all. Some for a day or two. But I don't buy dairy calves except that one time. He's at my neighbors. Gonna be dinner eventually.
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I don't seem to have problems with the beef calves. Even grafting. Just these darn dairy calves. The beef calves are so darn expensive I tend to lean towards the dairy as they are cheap and I still make decent money on the steers from a buyer we have. But the week or more fights with the scours are starting to get to me.
 
Hpacres440p said:
No, full time in town job, working with mama getting back home, and this old girl kicked the never mind out of a calf we tried last year. She's still got plenty, but the first freshening engorgement is improved and calf is making headway.
If I remember right, as a heifer this girl had the edema along the milk vein in front of her udder…calf will just have to grow faster😆
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Good thinking then. Sounds like she should raise a whopper calf. Wonder if there's any dairy in her?
 
Yo
Double R Ranch said:
I don't seem to have problems with the beef calves. Even grafting. Just these darn dairy calves. The beef calves are so darn expensive I tend to lean towards the dairy as they are cheap and I still make decent money on the steers from a buyer we have. But the week or more fights with the scours are starting to get to me.
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You need some brown swiss calves to put on her, I either put beef calves or brown swiss calves on my nurse cow. The brown swiss don't usually get the scours like the other dairy breeds.
 
Hereford2 said:
Yo

You need some brown swiss calves to put on her, I either put beef calves or brown swiss calves on my nurse cow. The brown swiss don't usually get the scours like the other dairy breeds.
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That's good to know. Will keep an eye out just in case one comes available. Thanks!!
 
The last calf I would buy is a brown swiss calf because they get killed at the market as feeder steers. Around here there are a couple breeders with swiss dairy animals... and the calves do grow pretty good... but I have talked to buyers at the one yard that has alot of dairy animals go through... and the one guy told me that swiss take so long to finish because they put on frame long before they put on meat, that they get too big and the kill plants do not like them. I have eaten 2 and by the time they are filled out enough to eat, they were both tough also... they were raised on cows not milk replacer, and I kept them for beef since the market was so bad for them...
I like my jerseys and don't seem to have much trouble with scours but you CAN NOT over feed them for the first 2-3 weeks....
There are A LOT of dairy herds that have the Rota and the Corona viruses... and the calves all seem to get sick in that 1-3 week period... also coccidiosis will seem to catch them around that time also... I am VERY PICKY about where the calves come from for that reason now. But as a preventative, when you get any calf, you need to treat as a preventative with corid for the cocci, and there is a paste that will help stop the rota and corona virus that you give at day one... can't remember the name as I haven't had to use it since I quit getting calves but a few trusted places.
 
farmerjan said:
The last calf I would buy is a brown swiss calf because they get killed at the market as feeder steers. Around here there are a couple breeders with swiss dairy animals... and the calves do grow pretty good... but I have talked to buyers at the one yard that has alot of dairy animals go through... and the one guy told me that swiss take so long to finish because they put on frame long before they put on meat, that they get too big and the kill plants do not like them. I have eaten 2 and by the time they are filled out enough to eat, they were both tough also... they were raised on cows not milk replacer, and I kept them for beef since the market was so bad for them...
I like my jerseys and don't seem to have much trouble with scours but you CAN NOT over feed them for the first 2-3 weeks....
There are A LOT of dairy herds that have the Rota and the Corona viruses... and the calves all seem to get sick in that 1-3 week period... also coccidiosis will seem to catch them around that time also... I am VERY PICKY about where the calves come from for that reason now. But as a preventative, when you get any calf, you need to treat as a preventative with corid for the cocci, and there is a paste that will help stop the rota and corona virus that you give at day one... can't remember the name as I haven't had to use it since I quit getting calves but a few trusted places.
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I think that's why a lot of dairy calves get a bad rap. Everyone around here hates em. Too many die.
It sounds like you've got the secret figured out!!
Myself, I've always stayed away from em, just because I make more money with the beef calves.
 
I think over eating is a huge factor for us. I try and keep it from happening but I truly think that's the main problem.
Good to know on the brown Swiss. I have a buyer who will buy 400# holstein steers from us at really good prices so that's what we lean towards because they are usually hundreds of dollars cheaper. More profit for us with them vs paying a lot more for a beef animal and still getting dinged for being a single at sale time.
 
From what I have learned on a dairy cow board is that babies left on the dairy cows are just about guaranteed to get milk scours. My old cow I always milked her out once a day, did not let the baby calf have free access all the time.
 

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