How long to bottle feed?

[Alan]

As some know we had our first set of twins last spring, long story short.... I leave the calves on the cow for 7 to 9 months, depending on what's happening with weather, ect. I have a bottle calf, twin, that is about 2 months old, I'm really not ready to pull her off a bottle yet, she's pretty well bred, she eats plenty of calf starter. At this point I'm more concerned about milk belly than the cost of the milk replacer. So my question is how long would YOU keep her on milk replacer if cost is not a factor at this point? To be fair she is currently on one gallon of milk replacer twice a day, I keep calf starter grain in her feed bucket and she has lots of good grass. So please keep it mind mind, I did not say money I's not an object, I said at this point it's not a concern.... Is 6 months too long?

Thanks,
Alan

 

[hillsdown]

Nope ,if you feel like feeding her for that long go ahead.

Stormy was fed for 5 months ,I could not get her to eat calf starter like she should have been to ween at 3 months so I kept her on the bottle . All it did was turn her into a really nice looking heifer who now raises a heck of a calf each year for me.

 

[Lucky_P]

Once they are eating a minimum of 1.5 lb/day of a good quality calf-starter ration, I cut the bottle off and bump the grain ration up pretty quickly - along with all the quality pasture they can consume. Just don't scrimp on the quality of the grain ration.
Bottle-feeding is the most expensive and labor-intensive part of raising an 'orphan' calf - I try to have 'em weaned by 4 weeks; almost never fed a bottle past 6 weeks. Never fed more than a half-gallon twice daily. Want 'em a little bit hungry so they'll get started eating that grain ration quickly and get that rumen up and running.

Prolonged milk feeding may get you more 'calf development' - but at the expense of 'rumen development'.
Have a look here: http://www.das.psu.edu/research-extensi ... lves/rumen

You can keep on feeding that bottle as long as you want - but I wouldn't.
Had a client, when I was in practice, that raised a big ol' fat orphan Beefmaster heifer - she still had her farm hands giving that thing a bottle twice a day when it was 2 years old. Some folks have more money than they have sense. I think they may have stopped bottle-feeding ol' Buttercup when she finally delivered a calf at 3 or 4 years of age...

 

[KNERSIE]

Alan, the milk belly won't happen if you bottle feed, if you used a bucket then that would most likely happen. I feel the risk of scours is far higher while the calf is still drinking milk so I agree that I would wean as soon as they eat enough calf starter. Ideally the calf should show you when, for me that means the calf is filled out on the rump and thighs and is shiny. Like is said before use good quality feed and feed them as much as you can. Make sure to use a ration meant for developing dairy heifers so you get all the growth needed without all the energy that can make them lay down fat in the udder. If it was a bull calf it wouldn't have made much difference as long as you don;t get them to the point where fat accumulates in the neck of the scrotum.

Juts for interest's sake, 0904 was my bottle calf project in 2009, I lost his dam after she fell in a ditch and was down for about 5 days before he was born. I've put her down shortly after milking her out to get a few drops of colostrum for the calf.

With my other half as a young calf

At about 3 months old with one of the growthiest calves of that year, he is on the right. For those who know the bulls I use the calf on the left is my 0917 herdbull

At 11 months in a growth test

The day he was sold to a commercial customer at 14 months, by then he had been breeding a few commercial heifers for a month.

 

[TexasBred]

Old rule of thumb use to be, feed one 50 lb. bag of milk replacer and wean....should be eating feed and grazing adequately by that time.

 

[Lucky_P]

That's pretty much the way I always tried to do 'em, TXbred - that one bag of MR and done - usually lasted about a month, and by then 95% of calves were eating enough calf-starter ration that I just quit the bottle and jacked up their grain ration accordingly.

 

[dun]

and jacked up their grain ration accordingly.

That's the part that most people don;t do and end up with potty calves

 

[Lucky_P]

Yeah, Ya gotta feed 'em if you want 'em to grow.
Toughin' it out - even on some decent grass - won't provide the nutrition that growing calf needs to build bone and muscle and a functional immune system.
Gotta have some quality protein and energy in a form that they can use. That rumen won't reach full functionality to allow them to make it on forages alone for quite a few weeks.

That said, I've never had a beef calf perform like those dairy calves; every beef calf I ever had to raise on a bottle ('cept one) ended up as not much to look at. But somebody bought 'em when they went through the sale ring.

 

[novaman]

That said, I've never had a beef calf perform like those dairy calves; every beef calf I ever had to raise on a bottle ('cept one) ended up as not much to look at. But somebody bought 'em when they went through the sale ring.

I'm feeding some crossbred calves. 50% Gelbvieh 50% Holstein. Man they can grow far better than my Holstein heifers. However, they do get a 26% protein milk replacer so they are putting the muscle on. The beef crosses seem to build muscle whereas the Holsteins seem to stay leaner and frame up more.

 

[dun]

That said, I've never had a beef calf perform like those dairy calves; every beef calf I ever had to raise on a bottle ('cept one) ended up as not much to look at. But somebody bought 'em when they went through the sale ring.

I'm feeding some crossbred calves. 50% Gelbvieh 50% Holstein. Man they can grow far better than my Holstein heifers. However, they do get a 26% protein milk replacer so they are putting the muscle on. The beef crosses seem to build muscle whereas the Holsteins seem to stay leaner and frame up more.

You suppose that might be the difference between beef and dairy?

 

[KNERSIE]

That said, I've never had a beef calf perform like those dairy calves; every beef calf I ever had to raise on a bottle ('cept one) ended up as not much to look at. But somebody bought 'em when they went through the sale ring.

I'm feeding some crossbred calves. 50% Gelbvieh 50% Holstein. Man they can grow far better than my Holstein heifers. However, they do get a 26% protein milk replacer so they are putting the muscle on. The beef crosses seem to build muscle whereas the Holsteins seem to stay leaner and frame up more.

You suppose that might be the difference between beef and dairy?

You reckon? Never!

 

[novaman]

That said, I've never had a beef calf perform like those dairy calves; every beef calf I ever had to raise on a bottle ('cept one) ended up as not much to look at. But somebody bought 'em when they went through the sale ring.

I'm feeding some crossbred calves. 50% Gelbvieh 50% Holstein. Man they can grow far better than my Holstein heifers. However, they do get a 26% protein milk replacer so they are putting the muscle on. The beef crosses seem to build muscle whereas the Holsteins seem to stay leaner and frame up more.

You suppose that might be the difference between beef and dairy?

Smart butts! lol I was simply responding to Lucky's comment about beef calves not being much to look at when raised on the bottle.