winddancer
Active member
The little calf is starting to drink water from the bucket..can I start offering her some in the bucket in between the bottle? Or how does that work?the other question is when do they start eating grain and hay? 
one more question on the bucket
- Thread starter winddancer
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winddancer
Active member
let me fix that post some.... when can I start offering her milk in the bucket?
Bama
Well-known member
Are you referring to a open top bucket with them drinking from the top or a bucket with a nipple on it. I have read somewhere that drinking from a open top bucket don't cause the flap to close that prevents the milk from going through the whole stomach system. The head held up and sucking motion causes the flap to form a tube bypassing much of the stomach system. This makes the process more efficient. Don't get me wrong I ain't never cut one open to prove or disprove this, Its just something that is filed back in the extended memory cells of my brain. That section of my brain could use a little wd 40 as its getting a little rusty. Drinking from opentop buckets has raised a lot of fine calves. Someone in the dairy business could help you more with this. I start giving them grain in the form of calf starter as soon as they seem interested. After the bottle feeding start putting a little in your hand right after the feeding and put it to the calfs mouth. Sooner or later the calf will think "that was good I think I'll try some more" Don't force it and don't give it too much. Just a little to start with. You have to gets its stomach used to the grain and hay gradually. Expecially the grain.
winddancer
Active member
Bama what kind of grain for her? Yes i was talking about open bucket...
Got a week old calf on an open bucket right now and she is doing fine. Do not panic when the calf puts its head almost all the way down into the milk - almost to eye level - it will not drown. They almost all do this.
If you do not know what calf starter is - go to your local feed store and ask - the same place you get your replacer - they will have it.
Bez
If you do not know what calf starter is - go to your local feed store and ask - the same place you get your replacer - they will have it.
Bez
Bama
Well-known member
Its called calf starter. Any co-op or feed store will know what you are talking about. Its a special blend for young calves. Its also a little higher than the regular grain but worth it.
farmer rich
Well-known member
We feed all our dairy calves on a bucket from day 0, it makes feeding 50 calves a lot easyer. Takes about 2 feeds on average to train them, you have to let them suck your fingers, then lower your hand into the milk. Some calves get it straight away.
...and then some of them don't ever figure it out. :lol: Had one steer calf this spring that just never could seem to figure out how to drink on his own. I had no desire to keep putting my hand in the bucket for him to suck on in -20F weather...finally gave in and left him on the bottle 'til he was 7 weeks. Weaned him (what a relief!) and that was that.
Medic24
Well-known member
Yup Milkmaid... has happened here as well.....I see advantages from both methods. especially when one wants to monitor the amount of the milk the calves are drinking.......when adding meds or other products to the milk bottles, I KNOW that they have gotten the full amount when the bottle is empty.... often times the last bit of milk sits in the buckets forever, thus any additions do as also.
Plus during the summer I often see tons of flies floating in the milk that has not been drank(?) drunk (?) drunken (?) immediately...maybe not be so harmful, but cant be good, plus I have no desire to help feed any flies.
We pretty much have a good method of preparing and cleaning or bottles for use.......works well for us, in our case, if it ain't broke............
BUT on the other hand..... a dairy down the road always feeds in buckets, and would really not be able to feed via bottles.We both raise comparable calves.
Go figure. :cboy:
Plus during the summer I often see tons of flies floating in the milk that has not been drank(?) drunk (?) drunken (?) immediately...maybe not be so harmful, but cant be good, plus I have no desire to help feed any flies.
We pretty much have a good method of preparing and cleaning or bottles for use.......works well for us, in our case, if it ain't broke............
BUT on the other hand..... a dairy down the road always feeds in buckets, and would really not be able to feed via bottles.We both raise comparable calves.
Go figure. :cboy:
We also get our holstein calves on open buckets as soon as possible. Use Bama's finger trick for both the milk and the grain. Works slick most of the time. We put a bottles worth of milk in the bucket in the morning. Refill that bucket with water after they drink the milk. Put grain in their mouth a couple times. Take fingers back to water bucket to get them to drink some water. They will drink the milk readily but will not drink the water so readily. Then at night, we empty any water out of bucket. Put in another bottles worth of milk. Refill that same bucket with water again after finished with milk. Repeat grain and water tricks. We keep fresh water, small amount of fresh grain, and hay in front of them at all times. They will figure out when to eat more of whatever when they are ready. Good luck.
winddancer
Active member
Well she ventured out of the barn on her own and was laying down in the corner of paddock..She got up on her feet without much coaxing and hobbled back to the barn and in..<raining>She's drinking water from the bucket pretty good...So I'm going to try the milk tonight.Her mom is leaving tomorrow with what they culled form the herd.This is all new to me..Guess you dont get attached with these guys.Going to be hard fo rme I've got a big soft heart..
winddancer
Active member
oh I can also see why a big operation couldnt put this much time in with a single calf..It's like having a newborn baby ..She's had a rough start in life.
winddancer
Active member
well she drank 2 pints of milk from the bucket...I see no signs of scours today..
Bama
Well-known member
She will probally start scouring again when she starts changing her eating habits with the grain and grass. Don't worry about it unless it gets really bad. That is normal. Feeding from a open top bucket is much easier than a bottle. You may want tot ry one of those buckets with a nipple on it. As it still gives them that sucking reflex. Don't worry about it if you can't find one. Most bucket or bottle calves are stunted a little anyway. You just can't totally replace moms milk. Good Luck.
winddancer
Active member
Bama we have been giving her mothers milk most of the last two weeks..accept when she first came down with mastitis she went onto the milk replacer....soon as we had the first of it cleared up she went back to moms milk.Now mom has it again so shes back on milk replacer...But i iwll watch for scours..will get the grain and hay to her this week...Tomorrow they are shipping some cattle off.her mom being one.I guess shes had troubles with calfing for years.....new buyers didnt know.
