# Dumor ultra milk replacer mixing questions



## Churnhead

The dumor ultra says accelerated program is 10 ounces for 2 quarts and standard is 8 ounces. Which should I use? They give no exclamations !


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## redtailgal

Can We have a little more information?

What breed is your calf?  how old?  How long has it been on a bottle? and Why are you raising this calf (beef, potential diary, pet etc)?


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## Churnhead

She's a month old I was told. Half Holstein half brangus. Raising her for a family milk cow!


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## redtailgal

I'd just raise her on the standard formula.  You have less risk of scours.


I'd also suggest that you read the following two pages for added info:

http://www.backyardherds.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2952-bottle-calves

http://www.backyardherds.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2952-calves-scours

Good luck with her and let us know if you have more questions

If you can, I'd love to see a pic!


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## TheyCallMeShorty

The info here was most helpful to me, my two calves are doing great because of the knowledge I got, thanks!


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## redtailgal

I'm glad to hear that!  This site is a wealth of information and there is always someone ready to answer a question.

Welcome to the group!


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## rd200

If its an accelerated program 10 oz seems correct into 2 quarts water. We feed a moderately accelerated program and dont have any problems with nutritional scours. Calves need milk to grow. The standard 1 gallon/day is NOT enough especially in winter. It may certainly meet its maintence requirements, but that doesnt leave it anything left to GROW on. Calves that are fed a higher plane of nutrition are less suseptable to disease and less stressed in inclament weather. We feed 8 oz into 2 quarts water of a 26/17 milk replacer 3x's a day at 8 hr intervals. The calves do really well and we rarely have scouring issus. We used to feed 16 oz into 3 quarts of water it was a 26/18 and boy did the calves GROW on that. It got expensive thou and so now they switched to this kind. Calves grow nice, it meets their nutritional requirements, they dont have scour problems, its great. If you concerned about scours or it being TOO concentrated then you could either do 12 oz into 3 quarts of water, or do 8 oz into 2 quarts and feed 3x day. 3x's day is really better for the calf. it keeps their blood sugars regulated and their stomach is not empty for long periods of time. With an accelerated program tho you need to have fresh water for the calf all the time. ITs impairative for an accelerated program because sometimes the ration is slightly higher concentration than normal, and a calf can get thristy in between feedings. Its generally good to have fresh water even if the calf is not on an accelerated program. 
The most risk i see with scouring is if you change the amounts around and one day its super concentrated and the next its not, etc. That is when you get problems. Be consistant. but the original mixing instruction arent too concentrated IMO.  Good luck....


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## TheyCallMeShorty

When can you start to wean them off their bottles? My calves are 3 weeks old and are eating grass, some hay and some grain.


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## aggieterpkatie

Not until 8 weeks. Their rumens are just starting to function around 4ish weeks, then by 6 it's functioning well, but 8 weeks is a bare minimum for weaning if you want them to do well.


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## TheyCallMeShorty

So taking away one of the bottles isn't a good idea?


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## redtailgal

Dont take away a bottle at this stage.  

They are eating grass and grain, but their rumens are just starting to develop.  Their bodies arent able to use the sold food to get maximum nutrition out of it yet.  RIght now, it's mostly just going thru their system.

At around 6-8 weeks, take away a bottle.  Then a week or so later, take away another bottle.


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## TheyCallMeShorty

How much grain should they get when you take the first bottle away? Right now the are eating about 1 pound of grain a day.  I will definatly wait until the right age. Thanks for your experienced knowledge.


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## redtailgal

I'd keep them at a pound for right now, but in a couple weeks, start boosting it up a little at a time.  

It depends alot on the pasture situation.  Our dam raised calves dont get grain at all, but I do supplement bottle babies usually.  If the pasture has put on really nice, and they are grazing well, I'll have them at around 2 pounds of grain when I wean them from the bottle, then once they have adjusted to no bottle, I wean them off the grain as well.  If the pasture is less than great I'll have them on as much a four pounds and leave them on the grain a little longer.

My goal is to feed them as little grain as possible while keeping them at their optimum weight.  Grain is costly, grass is free, lol.


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## goodhors

TheyCallMeShorty said:
			
		

> So taking away one of the bottles isn't a good idea?


No, it is NOT a good idea.  Calf is hungry, but his stomach and digestive system are not developed enough
to eat grass or pellets yet.  Even if he ate things, they won't get digested to provide food to calf.
Might cause a blockage in his system.  So all you get with removing the one bottle is a weak calf, more 
likely to get sick and slow their growth.  Saving money on milk replacer is NOT worth losing the calf.

Our Vet said 3 bottles a day, which we did 8 hours apart.  Calves did very well on that, and were
eating hay, grass, pellets in quantity to fill their stomachs, before we weaned them off the 
bottles.  Each was DIFFERENT in how they learned to eat!!  Ours had the pellets in stalls to nibble 
starting at about 5 weeks.  Didn't really do much nibbling until almost the full two months old, pellets 
given in limited quantity, couple cups each serving time. You can tell they are eating, by alfalfa pellets being gone, poop 
color changes if grazing or eating pellets.  I wanted them getting a good stomach flora built which takes
some time to create, for better digestion, without losing any weight from bottle feeding gains.


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