Out of town/teenage adult in charge... (Alice pls help?)

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DavisBeefmasters

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Well, you guessed it, we left Monday afternoon to go back home to Missouri to spend Turkey day with the folks and left the 19 year old young man to tend things until we returned on Friday morning...

Calls every day were made: Animals all have water? Yep. Any new calves? Nope. Any chickens eaten by coyotes or owls? Nope. So all is good? Yep.

So here comes Friday morning when we returned home:

1. Who does this bull calf belong to? I don't know - just saw him (looks to be 2 days old)
2. Who is that heifer calf lying on the hill? I haven't seen her before now either
3. Why are the chickens out of water? Oh, are they?

...and the little heifer calf on the hill hadn't even been cleaned, dried navel cord and no momma claiming her so now we have a little heifer calf named...

...you guessed it...

Little Orphan Annie

she is doing quite well, sucked down powdered colostrum on Friday and Saturday and we have her on milk replacer now and will be picking up calf starter on the way home from work.

...so question to any/all out there, since I've never had an orphan calf before -- can you turn out an orphan calf with the herd and if so, how do you feed him/her calf starter seperately from the other cow/calf pairs?

...any/all advice welcome.
 
The Lil Orphan Annie we had a couple of years ago we sold to the vet. His daughter showed her in the bucket calf class and now she's doing a bangup job raising her own heifer calf.
Now to the question. We turn the bottle calves out with the rest of the calves and the cow herd. Once they catch on to the fact that you're the source of the good groceries she'll come running anytime she sees you. The hard part is when you quit feeding the bottle. We've had some that learned to come into a small catch pen when we brought out grain but it got to be a real challenge trying to keep the other calves out. If for some reason the cows won;t let her hang around and spend the sleeping time with them, bring her in for the evening bottle and give her her grain then in the morning give her the bottle and grain before you turn her out with the others. Bottle calves are such a pain in the butt that's why we sell them as young as possible.
 
I wouldn't turn her out until you are certain that she will come to you when you call her for her feeding.I would keep her close by so you can monitor her.Or do what Dun suggested and let her out during the day but lock her up at night.

Did you ever find out whom she belongs to.Maybe they can be reunited still.


They are a pain, but I still like feeding the little ones it makes it all worthwhile when you see how fast they grow.
 
Yea, just et her used to getting a bottle in a certain place and she will come running to the fence every time she sees you. As for feeding her starter, you will have to put her up for that.
 
Sounds like a good project for the 19 year old. Not that he's any different from any other kid these days.

A little long lasting responsibility goes a long way toward growing them up.

By the way did you notice any cows looking like they really needed to be sucked?

We had a heifer that had a bad pull late last summer had no interest at all in the calf until he was about 6 days old and then came over to the fence where he was and demanded her baby. you might still be able to get Annie on her mother if you can identify her.
 
Personally, that baby would be mine where I could keep an eagle eye on her...and feed her with the bottle so she wouldn't forget how good the bottle is...meaning, she would be penned up close.

However, I also know it is really vital to not raise a calf alone. You've gotten excellent advice here...I'm just throwing my druthers into the mix.

If you can keep a really, really good watch on her most of the time...nah, forget it. If she were mine, she'd be close by...with a buddy, even if the buddy was a half grown steer. (I've done that, too.)

Alice
 
Yeah, those bottle calves are a lot of work. I agree with Alice, keep the calf close, so you don't have to go looking for it at feeding time. If your bottle calf is out with the herd, at least part of the time you will have to find it. Calves just aren't smart enough to know when to come for feeding.
 
Thanks everyone...

hillsdown --> I have 5 moms that are due next week (they came up open and for some silly reason I forced a cycle instead of sending them packing and now they calve later than the rest of the herd... anyways, the vet and I don't want to risk a palpate to check the 2 I suspect as being the culprit because we don't want to abort a potential newborn)

Alice and dun --> I've elected to put a buddy in with her in her small pen (one of the spring weaned heifers) at least for the first month or so

She wanted no part of her bottle last nite so she received her nutrition via tube... this morning she sucked down a little over 1 quart by herself so I didn't tube the remaining quart... I will make sure she gets her 2 full quarts tonight though whether she likes it or not...

3waycross --> the 19 year old is the one who came over last nite to give her the nite time feed which is probably why she was refusing it... so NO he is not allowed to try again this evening.. but while I feed her he's welcome to feed all the rest ;-)

So we will see how she does -- keep your fingers crossed for Annie!
 
DavisBeefmasters":dpcpppkq said:
Thanks everyone...

hillsdown --> I have 5 moms that are due next week (they came up open and for some silly reason I forced a cycle instead of sending them packing and now they calve later than the rest of the herd... anyways, the vet and I don't want to risk a palpate to check the 2 I suspect as being the culprit because we don't want to abort a potential newborn)

Alice and dun --> I've elected to put a buddy in with her in her small pen (one of the spring weaned heifers) at least for the first month or so

She wanted no part of her bottle last nite so she received her nutrition via tube... this morning she sucked down a little over 1 quart by herself so I didn't tube the remaining quart... I will make sure she gets her 2 full quarts tonight though whether she likes it or not...

3waycross --> the 19 year old is the one who came over last nite to give her the nite time feed which is probably why she was refusing it... so NO he is not allowed to try again this evening.. but while I feed her he's welcome to feed all the rest ;-)

So we will see how she does -- keep your fingers crossed for Annie!

I will make sure she gets her 2 full quarts tonight though whether she likes it or not...

How big is she? She may not need more than a little over a quart per feeding, especially via tube. If you can, let her work up to what she needs.

Another thing...and not everyone will agree, but it has worked well for me. Mix the milk replacer with less water. Put in the regular amount of milk replacer powder that you would use for 2 quarts and mix it with a quart of water. That way the tubing may not be necessary, and she will be getting the full nutritional value of the milk replacer.

Alice
 
I would say she is about 75 - 80#... though you are right, don't know why I haven't weighed the little bugger... I can and will tonite.
 
With my orphan calves. I keep and feed them by themselves for the first month. I do have a 3 year old daughter who will spend all day with the calves if we let her. So they aren't alone all the time. After a month I introduce them to the herd. Typically I have other small calves that eat in a crib. The orphan will eat grain and hay in the crib. I bring them in for their milk. By this time, they know who the feed source is. This makes weaning extremely easy. They just become part of the heard and lose their attachment to me. I don't mind bottle calves a bit. Its part of raising cattle.
 
I would fire that kid! What did he do? If you want reliability or peace of mind you need new help. Send him packing, i guarantee you can neglect them for less than you are paying him.
 
Get her up, it will be easy to do. Feed it for a few days and she will find you when you pull up. Although, I personally like to keep mine up, so I can monitor and feed them.
 
Beef11":3o6vixo9 said:
I would fire that kid! What did he do? If you want reliability or peace of mind you need new help. Send him packing, i guarantee you can neglect them for less than you are paying him.

I guess I failed to mention that the "kid" is our kid :oops: ... and no, he is not paid help... or is he? he gets room and board and in return tends the animals for the evening feed, bucks hay out for the morning feed for me as needed, assists with all chores as requested on the weekends, etc. Did I also mention that his paycheck from his day job in construction comes to us for safekeeping? He gets to live on 35% of his pay and we retain the rest for his movin' out in the near future... ;-)

Thanks again for everyone's reassurance and assistance. I'll keep you posted and YES, there will be pictures if she makes it through the 1st week, if not well then you won't see any pics.
 
DavisBeefmasters":2qrn7gc5 said:
Beef11":2qrn7gc5 said:
I would fire that kid! What did he do? If you want reliability or peace of mind you need new help. Send him packing, i guarantee you can neglect them for less than you are paying him.

I guess I failed to mention that the "kid" is our kid :oops: ... and no, he is not paid help... or is he? he gets room and board and in return tends the animals for the evening feed, bucks hay out for the morning feed for me as needed, assists with all chores as requested on the weekends, etc. Did I also mention that his paycheck from his day job in construction comes to us for safekeeping? He gets to live on 35% of his pay and we retain the rest for his movin' out in the near future... ;-)

Thanks again for everyone's reassurance and assistance. I'll keep you posted and YES, there will be pictures if she makes it through the 1st week, if not well then you won't see any pics.

My folks left me to watch the place when I was 19 also. I managed to fill the neighbors basement with water from our ditch, because I met a girl and forgot to change the set.

I had to work for him all summer to work off the damage, grew me up a bunch. Was it worth it? You bet, she was a dandy.
 
I believe the 19 yr old would be the one taking care of the bottle feeding. To realize how important it is to keep check on cattle.

Cal
 

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