I have an angus bull bottle calf that is 2 months old, and weighs 118#. He gets 2 bottles a day, sweet mix, cracked corn, and peletted (sp) beef feed, plus hay and water, and pasture grass. He eats good, has been poured with dectomax, seems like he feels good, he is just so thin he looks like he is only a couple weeks old. He got a little over 1/2 gallon of colostrum from mom plus a pack and a half of life line with in the first 24 hrs. He has a bit of a bum leg from being a hard backwards pull, but gets around fine on it. One strange thing is that if he gets a little scrape where he loses the hair it grows back in white instead of black.
scrawny calf
- Thread starter Dee
- Start date
Help Support CattleToday:
wormed? vaccinated?
how good is your feed - quality? and poundage - how much are you feeding?
grass tends to give 'em a potbelly, and sometimes they won't eat as much grain as they should when they're on grass. If you're giving him milk, grain, and hay, I don't know as I'd even bother putting him on pasture too. A 120lb calf can't eat that much. The feed he does eat needs to be good quality, and grass isn't near as good as grain for a bottle calf.
how good is your feed - quality? and poundage - how much are you feeding?
grass tends to give 'em a potbelly, and sometimes they won't eat as much grain as they should when they're on grass. If you're giving him milk, grain, and hay, I don't know as I'd even bother putting him on pasture too. A 120lb calf can't eat that much. The feed he does eat needs to be good quality, and grass isn't near as good as grain for a bottle calf.
bigbull338
Well-known member
his weight doesnt sound to bad. seeing he is a bottle calf. you could worm him 2x 2wks apart.and see if that helps. scott
farmer rich
Well-known member
Is your calf out of a dairy cow? We have a few angus cross calves out of our holsteins and they are pretty sorry looking.
Bama
Well-known member
What was its birthweight? Bottle calves are usually stunted in the growing department. How many pounds has it gained per day since you have had it? Normally the first couple of weeks they don't do much more than survive. After that they start slowly putting on weight.
He is 5/8 angus 3/8 hereford. Mom went down with calving paralysis and is currently in the freezer. He had his black leg and boostered, Calf Perk (Vitamin) Probios + E at birth. He gets 2" flake of hay, which he cleans up, 1 1/2 lbs. pelleted beef feed, 2 lbs. corn, and 2 lbs. of sweet mix or a little more some days. I sprinkle with calf manna once in a while also. He weighed #78 at birth. Seemed to be doing quite well at first, now he is getting taller but is so thin. I will try the double worming on him. I think I am doing everything right. I had ther herd tested for BVD 2 years ago due to having a runt calf that never grew. He was the size of a Blue heeler at 8 months. They tested BVD free. That cow went to slaughter at weaning time. I thought perhaps he has some strange problem due to the fact I have never seen a calf lose pigment from scrapes. I hate to pawn him off to someone at the sale barn, but if he won't grow he's not worth the time, feed, and trouble.
