Nurse cow?

[Oregon Rob]

Just picked up 4 Jersey bull calves and am pondering getting a nurse cow from the same farmer. Will one nurse cow typically let and have enough milk for 4 calves? Currently bottle feeding now. I would think that it would be better and more productive to have natural, fresh milk than calf replacer?

Thanks…

 

[angus9259]

You won't know till you try. That's a lot for one cow. Calves may need some "help" along the way. I would make a deal with the farmer that if she doesn't take the calves you get to bring her back.

 

[Rafter S]

There's a good chance she'll have enough milk for four calves, but she's going to need a lot of feed. I'd still rather buy feed for the cow than powdered milk for the calves, and they'll do better.

 

[backhoeboogie]

The right cow can nurse six. I've owned a lot of nurse cows but never one of the best.

Four calves start off fine for me. But I have to seperate the cow from the calves. If I go with 3 calves I can turn them out to pasture and let them be.

At first she'll likely do fine with 4. You might even have to milk her out a little after they are done nursing. 4 weeks from now it won't be the same. The calves will be wanting more than what she'll give. That's why you are going to have to keep them in seperate pens and put them together when it is time for the cow to nurse.

When I am grafting new calves onto a cow it can be cumbersome. I have a nursing crate I put the cow in. After the calves have nursed the cow for 3 days or so, they'll have her scent and generally she'll accept them.

Rafter S is on the money on feed. Those calves have to pay for the feed going into the cow. Around $1.25 per day cost per calf.

The dairy bull calves aren't going to be worth as much as beef calves when you go to sell them. Maintenance cost is the same. Beef heifers will bring more than dairy steers. I try to buy beef splits from the sale barn. A couple of weeks old is perfect. Let them get hungry. Crate the cow, then crowd the calves toward her. They figure it out pretty quick.

 

[backhoeboogie]

If this link works you can see my crate. Its pretty simple and works fine for a calm cow. I was stripping clostrums in the pic. Usually I only have to crate these gals for 3 days.

http://ranchers.net/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/7078

 

[Oregon Rob]

Thanks very much everyone. Yes the link worked just fine.
I was wondering if I'd have to restrain her to get started… this is just what I was looking for.

 

[TexasBred]

Just picked up 4 Jersey bull calves and am pondering getting a nurse cow from the same farmer. Will one nurse cow typically let and have enough milk for 4 calves? Currently bottle feeding now. I would think that it would be better and more productive to have natural, fresh milk than calf replacer?

Thanks…

She will raise 4 calves IF she's a dairy breed. Each will need one gallon of milk per day which is less than 35 lbs. per day. that's nothing for a holstein cow and won't require all that much feed for the cow. A jersey would require a bit more feed.

 

[Son of Butch]

I was wondering if I'd have to restrain her to get started….

Yes.
Cow needs to be restrained to give the calf time to learn, no more bottle, this is where the milk is now stored.
94% of cows will not just allow a strange calf to nurse. Cow needs to be restrained while she learns this is her new job.
Some cows learn faster than others and some calves are more timid in learning to nurse a cow it does not know.

 

[regolith]

Just picked up 4 Jersey bull calves and am pondering getting a nurse cow from the same farmer. Will one nurse cow typically let and have enough milk for 4 calves? Currently bottle feeding now. I would think that it would be better and more productive to have natural, fresh milk than calf replacer?

Thanks…

She will raise 4 calves IF she's a dairy breed. Each will need one gallon of milk per day which is less than 35 lbs. per day. that's nothing for a holstein cow and won't require all that much feed for the cow. A jersey would require a bit more feed.

If they're given free access to the cow they'll drink a lot more than a gallon each. I'd say it would be a good Jersey cow on decent feed that would raise four, all but the best of mine I'd give three calves to (but they don't get grain pre-weaning if they're on a cow). Restricted access and with additional grain for the calves, as long as each calf has a teat they should do okay on less milk.

 

[RanchMan90]

I have 4 beef steers nursering my holstein/jersey cow. I feed her 25 lbs of 20% ddg soy hull mix + free choice grazing. Feed costs are $3 daily @ 12¢ per lb. Milk replacer costs would be $2.50 per day. So she saves me $7 per day, so it took 200 days to pay her off in savings. May not be as cost effective with dairy calves and really comes down to how long term you plan to bottle calves.

 

[riquezada]

I've had several Jersey nurse cows over the past 20-30 years. All of them accepted calves with no hesitation. They were the cheaper smaller ones and I put 2 calves on them at a time. I used them mainly for convenience of not bottle feeding milk replacer twice daily. I hear that the price of milk replacer really shot up now.