?'s about hand raising a calf...

[Freebird]

My husband manages a Beef cattle farm, and while he knows the ends and outs of cows, I must say that I am still a newbie at cows (though I have been riding, owning and showing horses for almost 20 years) Anyway, couple years ago, one of the cows died shortly after giving birth to twins - a heifer and a bull calf. The heifer also died as well, but the bull was still alive so we took him home to raise. We still thought he was going to die, as he was very small, crippled, and sickly, but we nursed him back to health, and he grew to be a nice, pretty big bull...though he remained stunted. We finally had to sell "Mocha" though when he became too "bullish" and would chase us when we went out to get one of the horses. Ever since then, I told my husband that I never again wanted to raise up a bull calf, since it was too hard to get attached to him, knowing where he would one day end up. My 2 1/2 year old son however, had other ideas, and has been begging my husband for a calf, for weeks. So on Tues. twins are born ,a bull and a heifer. Of course the heifer is most likely sterile, and Wednesday, the mama refused to nurse her, so my husband took the calf home for us to raise up as a pet. We only want her as a pet, not to show, slaughter, and obviously not to breed, if she is indeed sterile. Sorry this is getting long, but I did want to ask a few questions about the calf my son has since named Bumble Bee (I have no idea where he got that one from, lol)

Currently we are feeding her a whole bottle in AM and PM and a lunch bottle around noon, that isn't as full. Though we are sure she got colostrum from her mama, the day she was born, We gave her 2 bottle of colostrum (the powdered kind) yesterday, and today she is on regular milk replacer.

Is this an OK feeding schedule?

When can she be started on a Calf starter Feed?

Is Calf Manna OK to supplement her with, when she is old enough?

Should she have free access to water now?

What about minerals? (in our horse pastures, we have both a "red" and white salt and mineral blocks)

Is there a way to test if she is indeed sterile?

What about Hay? We have nice quality square bales that we feed to our horses - coastal Bermuda and the horses in regular work also get bagged, chopped Alfalfa - would that be OK to feed her when she is ready?

I also feed my horses shredded soaked Beet Pulp, for extra roughage and fiber - is this OK to feed her as well?

I have heard that you should never feed a horse cattle feed, is the same true for feeding cattle horse feed?

Sorry for all the questions, but I want to make sure that our little "Bee" grows up nice and healthy. :-)

 

[dun]

Depending on the size of the calf that may be too much or not enough. If a new born calf is around 70-85 lbs or so 2 bottles is enough, if it's 100 lbs 3 works well. Wash the stools, that's the key. Cholostrum doesn't have any affect as to antibodies after 24 hours and is pretty diminished after only 12. But, the little extra nutrition in cholostrum never hurts a young calf, (my opinion).
Start introducing grain right away and keep fresh water in front of it at all times.
Bottle and bucket calves are typically weaned succesfully at 8 weeks. For that to work they have to be eating substantially of the calf starter. Also, only feed high quality, 20% or greater milk replacer. High quality is mad from milk and milk by-products, not soy. The main reason for keeping cow feed away from horses is thea some of it contains urea and I think any of bovetec type things are also no good for a horse. If it's going to be horned, you could alwasy train it as an ox to work in either harness or a single yoke. If it's polled you can still work it in harness. That way when it grows up it will still be able to be around as a useful "pet".

dun

 

[Medic24]

I'm with dun on this.......Milk replacer is the first important thing to really check out what you are buying. use only REAL milk proteins etc. at least 20% protein, 20% fat. stay away from the cheap powdered milk . we have had poor luck on them, as the proteins are soy, and maybe some other animal proteins (ie;rendered) and a young calf is not yet fully able to digest them properly... Gees, I wish all milk replacers were good.

A good calf starter grain will contain medication to prevent coccidia, there are at least 4 different medications that I know of. And will contain at least 16% protein as well. We use different brands, but it seems that a sweet starter is the most common. I am kinda partial to Purina quality, just not the price.
We wean our calves anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks depending on the weather and other factors. (holstiens) just try and make the transition as smooth as possible. Due to poor weather we are just now weaning a group at 7 weeks and it is noisy. Remember one can err on the safe side much better then cutting a calf short when milk is still needed.
If you still have milk powder left over when you decide to wean, you can smooth the transition by top dressing the grain with the powder for a short while.

Now, I admit, I am no expert, and other folks have different ways, and opinions on how to raise and wean calves. I would say as long as they work, thats all we want right? But I have raised a few hundred over the years and continue to loose less and less, knock on wood, and then mostly for strange reasons, not in our control.

We found a key to our success to be good sanitation. Very good sanitation, always assume that all tools and equipment that comes into contact with a calf is contaminated until you clean it.

Our vet has us on a program, actually a trial for him to see if the newer hyperimunized fluids will work well for us, They are being toted as an excellent protection barrier for those calves that have recieved little or no colustrum protection. And unlike vacines, are not blocked by those calves that HAVE recieved adaquete protection. But in fact are supposed to work in addition to, or instead of that same passive immunity.
Maybe too much information, huh?

 

[Freebird]

I forgot to add that she is a Black Angus/Santa Gatrudas (I know I didn't spell that right) The sire - is that the right termanology for a cow?LOL - is full blooded Santagatrudus - the bulls on teh farm, there's 3, came from teh King Ranch in Texas, ,which I guess are the ones who came up with the breed? The Dam is Black Angus/Santa Gutrudus cross, with out horns. I just got in from feeding Bee her evening bottle, and she sucked it right down. Her stools are are a light brown/yellow and are soft but firm. I'm reading teh tag from teh bag of milk replacer and is is "Suckle" by Manna Pro. It's says its medicated to prevent scours and is 22% protien with 10% fat. I am reading the ingredients, and it appears to have only milk products in it - no soy, plus added vitamins and minerals. I gave her a handfull of Calf Manna and she did gum it a bit, but we will try and get a milk based calf starter at teh feed store tomorrow. Any reccomendations on brands? The cows and calfs at teh cattle farm are fed a big load of this wet smelly brewers yeast stuff every day that they all really like, though I think it smells horrible - its enough to make an alchoholic not want a beer, lol. Well, thanks for teh advice so far!

 

[Linda]

Calf Manna's a good starter pellet for your calf. No need, in my opinion, to buy a different one. Keep a small amount where the calf can get to it by herself and keep pushing a little bit of it into her mouth after each bottle. She'll develop a taste for the Calf Manna and start eating it on her own, but maybe not immediately.

It sounds like you're going about everything the right way.

 

[dun]

Sounds good so far. I would just try to find a replacer with more fat. When I mentioned 20% fat was what I was referring to. In cold weather the higher fat help really helps.

dun

 

[Freebird]

I never knew so much about cows! (sure makes me glad a horse only has one stomach though, lol) As for getting another milk replacer with more fat, I don't know that that will be possible. We live in a small town, and its the only milk replacer that ourfeed store - which is teh only feed store around - carries. Well, I take that back, they do have another, but its some cheap brand, that is no where near as goodas the Manna Pro. We do add more powder then was the directions call for, so I'm hoping that will help, plus she stays up in a stall, with a nice hay bed, which I'm hoping will keep her warm enough.

 

[Medic24]

While adding a bit more milk powder during cold spells is not a bad idea, keep an eye on that manure, if it starts to scour, back off the powder!

Also remember, one of the leading causes of illness in calves are drafts. Look and feel around while feeding , be sure to prevent or fix any drafts you find.

 

[TheBullLady]

I have to disagree with Medic.. we've raised tons of bottle calves, and routinely put more replacer (up to 3 x ) in the bottle than recommended. If they scour it's most likely from a "bug" or virus, not too much replacer.

Sounds like your calf has a great place and great care! Would you like another one so she has a buddy? :D

 

[MR3]

Not disagreeing with anyone, cause I'm not that experienced with bottle calves. I did bottle one this year and when I started on the second bag I doubled the amount and she got the scour. She cleared up when I reduced it back to what I was giving her before.

Rod

 

[milkmaid]

Currently we are feeding her a whole bottle in AM and PM and a lunch bottle around noon, that isn't as full. Though we are sure she got colostrum from her mama, the day she was born, We gave her 2 bottle of colostrum (the powdered kind) yesterday, and today she is on regular milk replacer.

Is this an OK feeding schedule?

According to the bag of milk replacer I've always used (and according to most everyone I've talked to) one bottle morning and evening for a total of 1 gallon per day is sufficient for a bottle calf. However, that said, I have a couple calves on a nurse cow that are getting w-a-y more than that. I've always fed my bottle calves a gallon a day, but I've discovered recently that calves can have 2-3 gallons per day without trouble, and they tend to be much more contented than ones on less milk.

When can she be started on a Calf starter Feed?

Should she have free access to water now?

What about minerals? (in our horse pastures, we have both a "red" and white salt and mineral blocks)

Is there a way to test if she is indeed sterile?

What about Hay? We have nice quality square bales that we feed to our horses - coastal Bermuda and the horses in regular work also get bagged, chopped Alfalfa - would that be OK to feed her when she is ready?

You can give her access to hay and grain now - she may not eat it/eat much of it, but I've had week-old calves tasting hay and grain along with the cows. Same goes for water - where she's on milk alone she prolly won't need or want water; most of my bottle calves wouldn't touch water until they were a month old or older, when they were on enough grain and hay to make them thirsty. Same again for minerals; you can let her have access to them but she may not be very interested in them. I have seen some of my young calves licking off the bloat block, but for the most part they aren't interested.

You can have a heifer checked when she's around 600lbs to see if she's sterile (or maybe even a little smaller)...I think I also saw something in a catalog for checking really young calves to see if they're freemartins or not. I'll take a look and see if I can find it again.

 

[Medic24]

Not one to start an arguement, but yes, calves can and do scour soley on being given too much milk at once
It is not the same scouring you would see from a pathogen induced scours. Like most things relating to cattle, if you want to feed extra milk, or anything to your calf, or cattle for that matter, you must build up to it.

Even a change of milk replacer products can often produce some scours in calves.

And knowing that I was using a replacer that only had 10% milk protein I would want to feed more daily! But work my way up to it.

We DO feed extra milk to our calves for several reasons, weather, and to keep the calf from getting pot bellied so easily.

Keep in mind that often the same band companies will make several grades of milk replacers. Purina makes at least 3 that I know of. one that has 20/10, 20/20, and 20/20 non medicated for veal .
Land o' Lakes makes a bunch as well, and I was told makes alot of the other branded replacers.