Opinions??

[ksmit454]

Found a 4 month old steer for sale near me. He has not been weaned, but he is priced right. I would like to purchase him but... aren't the risks of pneumonia issues higher if he is pulled straight from mama and then transported about an hour away and put with my herd? The steer calf is being weaned young because we are in a serious drought... so I understand the problems with feeding cattle right now and wanting to thin out the herd. Thoughts??

 

[Silver]

A shot of Zuprevo or Draxxin on arrival followed a little later with your vaccination program should minimize the risk down to extremely low. I'd quarantine for a week before exposing to the herd. I've been burned in the past and learned my lesson.

 

[moses388]

Moving is stressful. Weaning is stressful. Could you postpone the weaning? Purchase a 50lb bag of all-milk replacer and feed it out of a calf pail. It might take a month to go thru a bag, but the steer should be settled into his new home. Then wean him. I agree on the quarantine. ...just a thought

 

[ksmit454]

He has been vaccinated, according to the person who has him listed. I actually have a 1/2 bag of milk replacer left from my last bottle calf. How fast do they learn to drink it out of a bucket? And if I quarantine him, does that mean no nose to nose contact? Would he bd ok by himself for that long? Id worry about him bawling and bawling and feel bad lol.

 

[ksmit454]

Here he is

 

[MurraysMutts]

Priced right is always good.
I agree with the other folks. All good advice.
If u have him in a pen for a week or so, he will drink from a bucket sooner than you would think. I usually keep em in the trailer the first day. Feed pan. Bucket.
Calf that dang big dont need no milk anyway.

O! And I dont like chasing calves. I usually put a hot wire in/thru the pen so they KNOW what it is b4 turn out

 

[FungusProudKY31]

Use an intranasal vaccine

 

[farmerjan]

A 4 month old calf being weaned off a cow is very unlikely to drink milk replacer from a bottle or a bucket. He needs to be penned separately, in a small enough pen that he can't get away from you too far and that you can monitor him. Feed him a good calf grain and good hay and water. He should be kept separate from the rest of your herd for at least a week or 2. Make sure he is eating good, watching for runny nose or any respiratory problems. Then vaccinate with whatever your normal protocol is
Yes he is going to bawl. He is going to be unhappy being taken away from his mother. If you have a real friendly one the same age that is weaned you could put it with him for company and hopefully neither will get sick.
We do not give antibiotics to anything we bring in, but we do vaccinate for blackleg and use a killed virus vaccine to help boost their immune systems. Anything new is kept close for a week to 10 days to watch for problems before they intermingle with anything else.

 

[WFfarm]

4 months isn't out of the norm to be weaned. You will want to avoid transporting it on a day that's damp/rainy or hot/humid which will add to the stress. Since you said you're area is in a draught, a rainy day is probably not an issue. You might ask the seller to give it Inforce-3 nasal 4-5 days before you pick it up. Single doses are a few dollars. Our feeder calf buyer requires use to do ours before shipping and he says he sees an improvement with newly arrived calves not getting respiratory issues.

 

[ksmit454]

Thank you all! Great advice thus far. The owner has decided to contact me one the calf is closer to 6 months (I am ok with that!). Then that can give me some time to think about it and weather or not I want another thing added to my plate... lol! I just don't know when to stop sometimes!