Junk calves

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Petercoates87

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Hey folks. Wondering if anyone raises any dairy calves. I bought a group of 4 bull calves back in August. These guys were all about 5 days old. According to the farm they got colostrum. When they got here I gave them a shot of selenium and got some nuflor off the vet to be prepared for any pneumonia that might arise. Well fast forward to now. They just aren't growing!! I'm feeding hay, brewer grains , cracked corn and bread. But the buggers are just not putting on the pounds. A couple are a little fuzzy , now I have dewormed them too so idk if this is worms but not growing any good at all. Any tips to try???
 
I do not know the protein of brewer's grain, but they need about an 18% protein ration. You did good giving them SE. What did you deworm them with? How long did you feed them milk replacer? Was it a soy milk replacer? I'm not very knowledgeable about bottle calves, but I do know they need high PROTEIN.
Many of the dewormers do not get tapeworms which calves are prone to having. I use Valbazen on my calves. It is a liquid drench. They get it and pour on at 3 & again at 4 months of age.
 
That's the dewormer I used lol. Plus I used boss on them for lice. I gave them a medicated milk replacer that was milk proteins for 2.5 months. This usually is good enough most of the time. And brewers grains average about 18-20% protein.
 
U say dairy?
Are they jersey, holstein, Swiss or some other dairy breed?

2.5 months is sufficient on milk IF they are getting a quality feed and eating enough of it.

They WILL grow slower being bottle fed. That's strike one.
Strike 2 is dairy of any sort.

What do they weigh now?

At 4 months I bet they are only about 200lbs tops


As an aside, most medicated milk replacer I've found is a BLEND of proteins. Not normally ALL MILK proteins.
 
I bought a group of 4 bull calves back in August. These guys were all about 5 days old. Well fast forward to now. They just aren't growing!! I'm feeding hay, brewer grains , cracked corn and bread.
4.5 months old = 135 days x 2 lbs day = 270 lbs + 80 lb bw = 350 lbs

My guess is lack of rumen development at weaning has set them back.
Brewer grains; wet or dry brewer grains?
I assume they have hay bellies.
I'd buy 4 bags of 16-18% texturized calf starter to develop their rumens.
I prefer texturized calf starter and according to Hoard's Dairymen pelleted starters lower calf rumen ph and can cause marginal acidosis if they were to over eat it.
 
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How much roughage are they getting?
Do they have access to grass or hay? I
 
Yeah your right their only 200lbs maybe.
They are holestien bull calves
Getting dry hay and wet brewers grains.
And yes they are all belly. I find it nuts they got big old bellies right now after being fed. But tomorrow morning they will look like poverty with a load of **** behind them lol.
 
Less hay
More feed

Most likely...
Well, I say that. Do they have unlimited hay available? I'm not familiar with wet brewers grain. But someone will be. How many lbs per head u feeding? Once or twice a day?

Are they implanted?
 
4.5 months old = 135 days x 2 lbs day = 270 lbs + 80 lb bw = 350 lbs

My guess is lack of rumen development at weaning has set them back.
Brewer grains; wet or dry brewer grains?
I assume they have hay bellies.
I'd buy 4 bags of 16-18% texturized calf starter to develop their rumens.
I prefer texturized calf starter and according to Hoard's Dairymen pelleted starters lower calf rumen ph and can cause marginal acidosis if they were to over eat it.
I like your numbers for a beef calf or dairy cross calf.

I've never seen a straight dairy calf do it tho!

That's why I stay plumb away from em as bottle calves. Takes way too much input for the desired gain/results...
 
I've raised a few bottle calves over the years. Used to be all holsteins, now there are alot of mixes with angus or black limi or black simme.... If they are fed right, they will come close to what @Son of Butch said. I figured 300 at 4-5 months and then they should start to really grow from there. BUT..... @MurraysMutts is right... MORE GRAIN LESS HAY.

Because of the way we have bred dairy cattle... they need concentrates... AND they need it to be WELL BALANCED. I fed a 14 % calf starter/grower ration... NON-MEDICATED and they were getting 2-4 lbs per day per calf until they hit the 5-6 month age.. what you are feeding is not balanced. They are not getting the little extras that their bodies need.
Bottle calves are not profitable in the normal scheme of things in today's market. The best ones are ones that are grafted on a cow that lost a calf and can have all the milk they want as well as learning to eat what the cow is eating and I have weaned 550+ lb holsteins off beef cows at 6-7 months because they get the balance nutrients they need out of a beef cows milk and not getting any creep feed except whet they get from a feeder when I call the cows into the catch pens to keep them friendly and give them a treat. Maybe a couple pounds feed a week if that.
Holstein steers get hay guts if they are not getting enough nutrients... they will eat and eat and eat because their bodies are craving the nutrients that they have been designed to eat over years of how we have bred and developed dairy cattle.

They also should be getting the very best hay fed in limited quantities... to get the roughage but not enough so that they just stand and eat 20 hrs a day.

Also, we do not band our holstein bull calves until they are 4-5 months old as a rule. They grow better as bull calves and they are not rank or have attitudes at 4-5 months so not a problem to deal with. Any time we get a bull calf to graft on a cow it is left a bull until weaning or we are moving/working them and have them where they can get handled through a chute.

I agree with getting them on some good textured feed and getting their rumens developed better and getting them a more balanced feed.

Sadly, as you are finding out... you cannot feed holsteins on the "cheap" like you can with some beef calves.... I like to get them at 300+/- lbs now and then get them going on feed and silage for a bit... with some hay... and then get them ready to turn out and they will get with the program. You are feeding more frame-body developement for the first 6-8 months before they even start to fill out.
Holstein steers here are in the 1.20 range if they are in good flesh. We took 6 straight jersey steer calves to market for a friend, and they were in the 350-500 range... they had raised them on bottles... and they got good feed and looked good and I figured I was going to wind up buying them to feed out at $.50.... they brought $.85 and .95 .... and I sure didn't buy them.
 
4.5 months old = 135 days x 2 lbs day = 270 lbs + 80 lb bw = 350 lbs

My guess is lack of rumen development at weaning has set them back.
Brewer grains; wet or dry brewer grains?
I assume they have hay bellies.
I'd buy 4 bags of 16-18% texturized calf starter to develop their rumens.
I prefer texturized calf starter and according to Hoard's Dairymen pelleted starters lower calf rumen ph and can cause marginal acidosis if they were to over eat it.
I second the texturized calf starter! Plus you don't want to overdo the brewery grain, and take care it does not spoil.
 
Perfect guys !! Thanks for your help. I'll run to the feed store and grab some calf starter for them. I really didn't realize how much extra these guys needed to grow. I've raised dairy bulls before on the way I stated up top and had good success but as someone stated before is I had those calves on my nurse cow and not bottle feed. I guess that made the difference and the more balanced nutrients is what these guys need.
 
Hey folks. just updating ya on the calves. It appears this group of 4 is improving a bit. I'm noticing they are filling out along the hip and back area a bit. Plus they aren't so fuzzy looking anymore. Also their coats are getting shiny too.
Now around the same time I made this post I was in the process of weaning another dairy bottle bull calf. So I done the same with this guy. Started him on feed, grain and hay, I must say I'm seeing better results in this guy so far. Thanks everyone for the advice.
 
Hey folks. just updating ya on the calves. It appears this group of 4 is improving a bit. I'm noticing they are filling out along the hip and back area a bit. Plus they aren't so fuzzy looking anymore. Also their coats are getting shiny too.
Now around the same time I made this post I was in the process of weaning another dairy bottle bull calf. So I done the same with this guy. Started him on feed, grain and hay, I must say I'm seeing better results in this guy so far. Thanks everyone for the advice.
Thanks for the update. Following this. I am thinking about not bottle but weaned calves.
 

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