Colethesteer said:
cowgal604 said:
Feed him more. 4 scoops doesn't really say much. What is the recommended feeding? 4 scoops can really mean anything.
What type of steer is it? He is weaned? If so in my opinion he was weaned too soon. My 4-month-old bottle calves get off the bottle around 5-6 months and have a big fat belly when they do. If they don't, I bottle feed longer.
He's a jersey mixed with a Holstein and Swedish red. The farm that I work on and that I got them from weaning them at about 2-3 months so he is already weaned. He doesn't have a recommended feeding since I am raising him by myself but I am slowly increasing his feed.
The feed recommended will come from the type of feed he is on, if your buying bags, it will prob be on the bag, or the manufacturers website.
The weaning off milk hinges on how much feed and what that hard feed consists of, not so much the age. They would have a well regimented regime in place.
So if your creep feed was 18% protein and appropriate energy, to wean would have to be consuming over 2lbs at a guess before weaning, plus some hay.
look for a well regarded calf pellet, look for a higher than 16% protein if is available, and the absolute min would be 2.5lbs plus hay, control the hay so that much pellet is being consumed, the hay is only to get the rumen working, the pellet contents however, the calf is relying on to maintain and survive.
My pellets are given at about 2% bodyweight, so at that age, 4lbs plus.
If the calf is not, or wont consume enough, then you have to use milk again. The concern is not his visual condition or remaining fat, it is his health and becoming susceptible to illness while adjusting.
I have no prob stopping and starting most calves on milk if they have had the bottle before, and TBH, if I did not have the exact hard feed they had for a period of transition to a hard feed you can easily get, I would have given the calf 1 bottle of milk a day, that would not fill him up and give it time to get used to your feed regime and habits.
Let us know how it is going....