I am raising my first bottle baby, when should I deworm?

[OcalaSportHorse]

I am raising my first calf. I got him at about 20 hours old and he is now about 5 weeks and doing wonderful! When should I deworm him and does he need vaccinations? I raise sport horses and rescued this little guy after his mom died, I have no idea about cows but am learning as I go and would appreciate any help or recommendations. His ears (inside) also seem to be irritated, they are red and a little "scabby"?? Thanks in advance!

 

[msscamp]

The time to deworm him was about 4 weeks ago. Read the directions, and give him the appropriate dose for his weight. Regarding vaccinations, you need to discuss that with your vet, because it is going to vary from area to area. I never vaccinated my steer bottle calves, but some people do.

 

[Lucky_P]

Msscamp is way off base on this one. There's absolutely no reason to deworm a week old calf - or a 5 week old calf, for that matter; even if they had ingested a few infective larvae while picking around the pasture, those wouldn't have had time to mature. If it's up in a stall drinking milk replacer & eating hay & calf-starter ration, it's getting no exposure to any infectious worm larvae.
Once this calf is weaned from the bottle and goes out to pasture(you'll still need to supplement with an appropriate amount of grain ration 'til it's 4-6 months of age), I'd deworm a month or so later. I almost never deworm calves 'til they're at least 3 months of age - and in reality, when you deworm (calendar date) is more important than how old the calf is. Google 'strategic deworming' and see if you can find appropriate information for your particular locale.

 

[dun]

Once this calf is weaned from the bottle and goes out to pasture(you'll still need to supplement with an appropriate amount of grain ration 'til it's 4-6 months of age)

Worth repeating!

 

[Kingfisher]

Once this calf is weaned from the bottle and goes out to pasture(you'll still need to supplement with an appropriate amount of grain ration 'til it's 4-6 months of age)

Worth repeating!

Good morning. I was trying to impress this upon my friend who bought a couple of calves this weekend. My question is how do you
" supplement " feed two calves out of a bunch of 12 cows and bulls? Do they make some sort of calf feeder that the cows cant
get their heads into?

 

[backhoeboogie]

Good morning. I was trying to impress this upon my friend who bought a couple of calves this weekend. My question is how do you
" supplement " feed two calves out of a bunch of 12 cows and bulls? Do they make some sort of calf feeder that the cows cant
get their heads into?

My assumption is there is no creep feeder. If you have a pen, drive some posts and set some panels two feet apart. Hang another panel across the two with a height that the calves can enter. Put the feed in the pen.

You can do it with wire panels and T-posts if need be. I've done it using 4 panels. It aint what I liked but there was not much else to do in that situation.

 

[msscamp]

Once this calf is weaned from the bottle and goes out to pasture(you'll still need to supplement with an appropriate amount of grain ration 'til it's 4-6 months of age)

Worth repeating!

Good morning. I was trying to impress this upon my friend who bought a couple of calves this weekend. My question is how do you
" supplement " feed two calves out of a bunch of 12 cows and bulls? Do they make some sort of calf feeder that the cows cant
get their heads into?

Yes, they do - check with your local coop. I have no idea what it costs, if anything, though. Or you can make your own area by welding a 'gate' that has bars variably spaced so as to accomodate a growing calf, but is too small to allow the cows/bulls to get through. Attach to some secure panels, and you have a creep feeder area set up.

 

[dun]

Ask at your local feed/farm supply store about a "creep gate". Look at it then build somehting similar yourself, it's a lot cheaper that way