How long to bottle feed beef calf?

[LisaW]

We have a beef heifer that we've been bottle feeding for 6 weeks now, she's 7+ weeks old. She's in the pasture with the other cows & calves and is eating grass. She's scrawny and smaller than the others (she's the youngest though, too). We've been giving her 4 pints twice a day and she takes about 3 pints in the afternoon (three feedings).

I would begin to wean her over the next few weeks if she were eating grain, but we don't grain feed the others and to pull her out to grain her would not work well.

My concern is that she get enough of a nutrient intake to grow and be healthy. Because the other calves nurse for months, there is a part of me that thinks she should be on the bottle for at least a little longer particularly if she's not taking grain.

How long is a good recommended time to bottle feed and then wean straight to grass?

We have vaccinated, wormed and treated for flies so her size is due, I think, to nutrition and age.

Thanks

 

[Bez+]

We have a beef heifer that we've been bottle feeding for 6 weeks now, she's 7+ weeks old. She's in the pasture with the other cows & calves and is eating grass. She's scrawny and smaller than the others (she's the youngest though, too). We've been giving her 4 pints twice a day and she takes about 3 pints in the afternoon (three feedings).

I would begin to wean her over the next few weeks if she were eating grain, but we don't grain feed the others and to pull her out to grain her would not work well.

My concern is that she get enough of a nutrient intake to grow and be healthy. Because the other calves nurse for months, there is a part of me that thinks she should be on the bottle for at least a little longer particularly if she's not taking grain.

How long is a good recommended time to bottle feed and then wean straight to grass?

We have vaccinated, wormed and treated for flies so her size is due, I think, to nutrition and age.

Thanks

Lisa

You are correct in your assumptions - what we do differently is no vaccs and no meds. If they die they die. Nothing until they go through the chute in the fall. I am not prepared to spend on bottle feeders except to feed them -they generally are money losers unless you are set up to do them in mass numbers.

We have one of those money wasters in the field as well. The calf is skinny but doing fine. We are now on our second bag of replacer.

I tried to give her away and no one would take her - and I resent feeding a calf - mother is a POS that will go down the road after we wean the other half of the twins.

Calf is a twin to a bull so worthless most likely except for the freezer - and no I will not eat her. We always take the best for ourselves now. We deserve it.

Before all this started I would have not minded the coyotes getting her - but she seems to be getting some protection from the herd as a whole. Now I have so much money in her that I want her to make it so I can kill her.

It needs to be handled on a per case basis - fact is ours will likely get another bag of replacer into her - the directions on the bag are mostly for those calves penned and fed grain.

In my opinion if you follow the directions in thiscase you will harm the calf - so keep feeding.

As your calf ages it will likely start stealing some milk from other cows. May be doing it now.

So hang in there - keep spending your money and hope she makes it. Because I figure you need to keep her going for 12 - 16 weeks minimum in your / my scenario. Maybe more.

Bez+

 

[LisaW]

So you plan on going 12 weeks? That sounds about like what I'm thinking. Yes we've got the investment in milk replacer but this heifer is from one of our best cows - she just quit milking and we sent her off to the sale barn. I'd like to keep her and get some nice calves from her - the bull was a beaut too. So I'm hopeful.

We don't mind bottle feeding. Seems that over the past three years we've bottle fed SOMETHING every year - generally a whack of lambs. With the lambs we've often ended up with a nicer crop of bummers than some of the nursing lambs have been. Maybe it's because we give them a little extra - I don't know.

Our herd is also protective of this little one. One cow in particular keeps a close eye on her, though nobody will "claim" her (clean her up or anything).

Anyway - thanks for your input.

 

[Bez+]

So you plan on going 12 weeks? That sounds about like what I'm thinking. Yes we've got the investment in milk replacer but this heifer is from one of our best cows - she just quit milking and we sent her off to the sale barn. I'd like to keep her and get some nice calves from her - the bull was a beaut too. So I'm hopeful.

We don't mind bottle feeding. Seems that over the past three years we've bottle fed SOMETHING every year - generally a whack of lambs. With the lambs we've often ended up with a nicer crop of bummers than some of the nursing lambs have been. Maybe it's because we give them a little extra - I don't know.

Our herd is also protective of this little one. One cow in particular keeps a close eye on her, though nobody will "claim" her (clean her up or anything).

Anyway - thanks for your input.

Sorry - a cow quits milking she is a dud - so are her children. Disagree with you on this one. I would toss the calf.

No offense - but I suspect this is a hobby to you by your answer. I definitely mind feeding - I make - or try to make a living off the animals - that may be our difference.

In fact I absolutely detest feeding. Now I am doing the work the cow gets paid to do. Unacceptable unless extreme unforeseen circumstances - ie: cow falls down a well and drowns.

If the cow is alive and walking and eating - and I am feeding the calf - the cow goes and so does the calf.

You might go over my initial post - I added some things to it.

One of the additions is we may go to 16 weeks. It is all a judgement call - only you can make that call.

We will see what happens here. Still up in the air.

Regards

Bez+

 

[dun]

If you are unable to grain her, sell/ship her to someone that can properly raise her. A calf needs to get the nutrition from somewhere and grass alone won;t do it.

 

[Bez+]

If you are unable to grain her, sell/ship her to someone that can properly raise her. A calf needs to get the nutrition from somewhere and grass alone won;t do it.

Here - you and I disagree. Seen it done and it works - just keep them on the bottle longer - they catch up in the end.

Bez+

 

[LisaW]

Thanks Dun. That's my concern. I've considered putting her in with the sheep so we can isolate her and get her used to the grain so she'll take it. A ruminant is a ruminant so I'm not too worried about them being in a pasture together.

As for us - we homeschool and the kids enjoy having a 'pet' for a season. The lambs are a lot more sensitive than the cattle and require more intervention when they are young. This is our first 'dud' season with the cows so we're not too discouraged. After 8 years, one to bottle feed is no big deal. We do have a smaller herd, the neighbor has about 250+ cow/calves yet he will even invest in bottle feeding if necessary. In fact he is the one that taught us the technique to tube feeding. Why throw away something so easily? Anything takes effort if it's going to turn out well. We don't mind the effort, however you, Bez, might.

 

[Alice]

Whatever your reasons are for keeping her...like Dun said, she needs to be eating grain...at least 2 pounds of it a day...before she's weaned off the bottle. Were it me, I'd keep her on the bottle for a while even after she's eating the 2 pounds of grain a day, slowy decreasing the amount of replacer she's getting.

Also, give her some probios at least once a day.

Just my two cents.

Alice

 

[LisaW]

How long would you recommend graining her?

And probios we've done, but not daily.

Thanks

 

[Alice]

How long would you recommend graining her?

And probios we've done, but not daily.

Thanks

Well, she's gonna need to have the amount of grain increased as time goes on...and I'd do that until she looked as good as the rest of the animals you have out in the pasture.

We grained our bottle fed calves until they were about 8 months old...probably overfed them...but that's what we did. When the rains came and we got grass again, we began decreasing the amount of feed and watched. When it was obvious that the animals were definitely not suffering from lack of grain (they stayed looking fat and sassy), we stopped the grain entirely. They're still looking fat and sassy.

We could afford to do this because we don't have many. Since you just have the one bottle calf and you want to keep it I would think you'd be able to do this without an exorbitant cost to you. Now, if you were trying to do this with a bunch of animals, wow! The money drain would be rough...

BTW, We've taken a few of these bottle calves to the sale and have gotten top dollar for them...well over the amount we had invested in them. But, there's no way we could have operated like this with a whole herd of animals... :shock:

Alice

 

[Peggy]

Right now I have two calves I'm bucket feeding - one's mother died and one is a twin that was sick and the mother abandoned. My husband pretty much is disgusted with me as he's a practical farmer and thought we should have cut our loses. The twin is doing okay now but is over 2 months old and is the littlest thing out there. The one that's mother died is very healthy and good size and is about 3 weeks old. Both are eating grass and we're feeding them quite a bit of milk replacer. So anyway, I have these two calves who are finally off the bottle and drinking from a bucket but are drinking waaaay too much milk replacer. What we're buying from the co-op is pretty expensive so maybe part of the problem is just finding cheaper milk. I'm trying to get them on starter but am not having much success. We've tried mixing the dried powder milk in and they just don't want it. They also don't seem interested in fresh water. What do we do?? The expense of the replacer is getting ridiculous, even I'll admit that, but until they're eating enough feed I can't see taking them off the milk. I'm also giving them enough replacer that they're full which is almost double what the directions say to give them. But I feel like if it's the only liquids they're getting all day they need that much. Any suggestions for getting them to take the grain and when is it safe to stop giving them milk? The directions on the replacer say to wean when they're eating starter and they're just not doing it. I'm sure my husband could be a little more helpful but has pretty much said they're my problem. Help!!!

 

[bigbull338]

Right now I have two calves I'm bucket feeding - one's mother died and one is a twin that was sick and the mother abandoned. My husband pretty much is disgusted with me as he's a practical farmer and thought we should have cut our loses. The twin is doing okay now but is over 2 months old and is the littlest thing out there. The one that's mother died is very healthy and good size and is about 3 weeks old. Both are eating grass and we're feeding them quite a bit of milk replacer. So anyway, I have these two calves who are finally off the bottle and drinking from a bucket but are drinking waaaay too much milk replacer. What we're buying from the co-op is pretty expensive so maybe part of the problem is just finding cheaper milk. I'm trying to get them on starter but am not having much success. We've tried mixing the dried powder milk in and they just don't want it. They also don't seem interested in fresh water. What do we do?? The expense of the replacer is getting ridiculous, even I'll admit that, but until they're eating enough feed I can't see taking them off the milk. I'm also giving them enough replacer that they're full which is almost double what the directions say to give them. But I feel like if it's the only liquids they're getting all day they need that much. Any suggestions for getting them to take the grain and when is it safe to stop giving them milk? The directions on the replacer say to wean when they're eating starter and they're just not doing it. I'm sure my husband could be a little more helpful but has pretty much said they're my problem. Help!!!

id put the calves in a pen an put feed in their mouths.let them suck the feed from your fingers.you really cant wean them till they are eating 3lbs of feed each.or you could sale them.

 

[dun]

The first thing to do is cut back on the replacer to what the directions specify. I know it's hard to believe that companys that have been making milk replacer for years and have nutritionalists figuring this stuff would know what they're talking about.
Then you should do as BB338 suggested. By the time they;re 8 weeks old they should be eating a couple of pounds a day of calf starter grain, that's the point that bottle calves are normally weaned. After they;re weaned you'll still have to keep the grain feeding and increase it as they grow.

 

[TexasBred]

Rule of thumb has been to use up one fifty pound bag of milk replacer and then wean the calf. The calf also needs water and feed put in front of him from day one even tho he/she won't eat it for awhile but should be eating 2 lbs. per day by the time he is weaned. After that the calf should be able to eat, graze and grow normally.