Pop bellied calves

[MurraysMutts]

Why in the world would you go on vacation and leave your animals with an idiot to fend for them, is a vacation more important than caring for your animals?

Dayum @debbiea
I think I love u!

I have 1 person I trust to care for me animals. And that's me!

I do have a couple friends that would help in a pinch tho. Family emergency etc. It happens.
2 weeks and I'd have no hair left at all!!!

I don't take many Vacations....

 

[Hereford2]

@debbiea if the person taking care of the animals was doing as @Hereford2 instructed, that doesn't make them an idiot. Maybe there needed to be better communication, but that is a little accusatory... Doesn't sound like he neglected them, they just didn't get what was needed to offset the increased drought conditions. And it was probably coming along before the 2 weeks as has been suggested and that is on the owner... If a neighbor or someone is not a true cattle person, they would not know to increase grain and that would be a call by the owner to start with. I have friends that will take care of things for me, and they do the job I instruct them to do. If conditions change, maybe I would change things, but that is not the person ,doing the tending to, place to make the change.
And taking a vacation is sometimes very necessary to family and personal mental health... It is not like @Hereford2 went away and left them to fend for themselves with no caretaking....

Thank you farmerjan! After asking all of the questions I have and after the reply's and after thinking Everything through, I think it started before I left,. I agree I'm responsible for not doing better on my end. I should have had a list of things for the guy who was taking care of them to do if things dried up, and maybe, they would be in better shape now, That's water under the bridge, (live and learn) I know quite a bit of stuff about calves, BUT I DON'T know nearly as much as I wish I did. I've read a lot, watched videos, talked to people, learned by experience. But I Want/Need to learn more. I want to know all there is to know about raising calves and cow's. So stuff like this doesn't happen in the future.

 

[Hereford2]

Dayum @debbiea
I think I love u!

I have 1 person I trust to care for me animals. And that's me!

I do have a couple friends that would help in a pinch tho. Family emergency etc. It happens.
2 weeks and I'd have no hair left at all!!!

I don't take many Vacations.

 

[faster horses]

What you are seeing could be undigested feed. That will make them pot-bellied. It's hard for anything to digest dried up feed, especially young animals. Protein should help, but it will take awhile and keep feeding them the best forage you have in the meantime. They need the best, because they aren't practiced at converting forage very well at this age (they don't have the rumen size a cow has) and be sure to deworm them, specifically with Safeguard. It will get rid of more worms than any avermectin product will.
And, good luck.

 

[Hereford2]

What you are seeing could be undigested feed. That will make them pot-bellied. It's hard for anything to digest dried up feed, especially young animals. Protein should help, but it will take awhile and keep feeding them the best forage you have in the meantime. They need the best, because they aren't practiced at converting forage very well at this age (they don't have the rumen size a cow has) and be sure to deworm them, specifically with Safeguard. It will get rid of more worms than any avermectin product will.
And, good luck.

Thank you!

 

[wbvs58]

Thank you farmerjan! After asking all of the questions I have and after the reply's and after thinking Everything through, I think it started before I left,. I agree I'm responsible for not doing better on my end. I should have had a list of things for the guy who was taking care of them to do if things dried up, and maybe, they would be in better shape now, That's water under the bridge, (live and learn) I know quite a bit of stuff about calves, BUT I DON'T know nearly as much as I wish I did. I've read a lot, watched videos, talked to people, learned by experience. But I Want/Need to learn more. I want to know all there is to know about raising calves and cow's. So stuff like this doesn't happen in the future.

Observation is the biggest thing to master so that you recognise little subtleties before you see the more obvious effect. This is of the animal and the environment.

Ken

 

[TCRanch]

Observation is the biggest thing to master so that you recognise little subtleties before you see the more obvious effect. This is of the animal and the environment.

Bears repeating!!! Goes hand in hand with trust your gut and know your cattle.

 

[bird dog]

I am running a experiment on some pot bellies. Two are orphan twins and one is from a cow that died. Those were from my herd . The last one is a sale barn calf I bought for .90 lb. I wish I would have had about 10 of them to do a better experiment. . It all started last fall when the orphans arrived. I had a jersey that fed them for a while but she bogged up in a mud hole and never recovered. So some of these youngsters lost their mother twice. Remarkably they all stayed healthy. Anyway I got them going on some 10% creep and cool season grass then moved them in the spring to the backgrounding group where they have spent the summer. They have done well but growth is very slow. The best one, a heifer, sold last week at 528 lbs and brought 1.46. A decent return for a calf that never had a mother.

The other three are steers, still on pasture and weigh about 450. 10 months old now. They actually look pretty good. If they went to the sale they would sell okay but would be considered having to much fill and would be discounted. The no longer would be considered pot bellies, just full calves. Like some of the prospects I buy cheap, it just takes time for them to mature. In the pot bellies case, longer than normal.

I would buy more of them in the spring when you have some good grass to get them going. Its a low budget way to make a few bucks.

If you have any kind of pasture at all, put them out on it and let them go until the early winter. You might be surprised that they will do fine.

 

[Hereford2]

Here's the calves I have been asking you about

 

[MurraysMutts]

Judging by those pictures, they look perfectly fine to me!

 

[Hereford2]

Judging by those pictures, they look perfectly fine to me!

well I'm comparing them to this calf, that is still getting milk and is 3 months old lol I did go ahead and bump their grain up to 2% of their bodyweight. This is another one of my calves, I have 12 project calves of various ages

 

[MurraysMutts]

@Hereford2
Here's the pic I posted earlier. From when I pulled em off pasture after Brandy left. They were on their own for a week or two. The middle one would rob off anything. Obviously she's not stuffed full of hay and grass.
This pic was on the 23rd
So it's been 8 days on this program.

Here they are today.
Noticeable difference I believe. They are not all blowed up like a balloon!
Somehow I managed to get a pic in the same order. Guess that's their dinner eating order.

They have been getting a scoop and a half for the 3 of em. 14% creep.
That's half a scoop each I reckon.
Their hay consumption has dropped dramatically but they still have full rumens. The are NOT stuffing themselves anymore because they are getting the nutrition from the feed.

Hopefully I caught them soon enough that they won't be pot-bellied forever now. I know I feel better about it!

 

[Hereford2]

Hi, thought I'd do an update on the calves, I switched them to a 16% feed and they're all growing well and have almost lost the belly look.!

 

[Hereford2]

Hi, thought I'd do an update on the calves, I switched them to a 16% feed and they're all growing well and have almost lost the belly look.!