# New to Cows - Have Questions



## elevan (May 13, 2011)

We went to a swap meet / flea market / auction today and bought some bulls (soon to be steer).  I've never raised cows before and have some questions.

They are quite young.

This T-Bone he is probably around 65-75 pounds...I can pick him up but just barely and I cannot carry him.  How old do you think he is?







This is Brisket he is somewhere around 45-55 pounds...I can pick him up and carry him a good distance.  How old do you think he is?  He's a good deal smaller than T-Bone.






I gave them each a pint and a half of vitamin D whole milk from the store (warmed up) in a bottle this evening.  How often should I feed them and how much?

I'll be getting vaccinations from the vet tomorrow and already have the necessary deworming medications for them.

T-Bone seems interested in eating grass, but all Brisket is interested in is a bottle.

I also purchased Calf Starter / Grower Pellets and Calf Manna.

They look skinny but I don't know if that's normal...most cow's look lanky to me but calves especially so.  What do you think?

Thank you!


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## she-earl (May 14, 2011)

I would feed them between three and four pint twice a day.  If their manure would get loose, then slightly decrease the amount of milk at each feeding.  I would put the calf starter in front of them right away, as well as, fresh water.  They would look to be fairly youg calves - possibly around a week old.  Are their navel cords all dried up?  Usually that takes at least several days possibly up to a week to dry off.


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## jhm47 (May 14, 2011)

Worming at this stage is not necessary.  Neither is vaccinating them for pneumonia.  They will not develop immunities from a vaccination till they are approximately 2 months old, and they won't develop worms till they are eating grass on an infested pasture.  They appear to be about a week old or so to me, however, It's hard to tell in a picture.  They look like Jersey crosses.


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## elevan (May 14, 2011)

she-earl said:
			
		

> I would feed them between three and four pint twice a day.  If their manure would get loose, then slightly decrease the amount of milk at each feeding.  I would put the calf starter in front of them right away, as well as, fresh water.  They would look to be fairly youg calves - possibly around a week old.  Are their navel cords all dried up?  Usually that takes at least several days possibly up to a week to dry off.


Brisket's navel cord is dried and still attached.  There is a little bit of dried navel cord attached to T-Bone still.


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## elevan (May 14, 2011)

jhm47 said:
			
		

> Worming at this stage is not necessary.  Neither is vaccinating them for pneumonia.  They will not develop immunities from a vaccination till they are approximately 2 months old, and they won't develop worms till they are eating grass on an infested pasture.  They appear to be about a week old or so to me, however, It's hard to tell in a picture.  They look like Jersey crosses.


Thank you.


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## Ariel301 (May 14, 2011)

They do look like Jersey crosses. Very cute!


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## elevan (May 15, 2011)

Ariel301 said:
			
		

> They do look like Jersey crosses. Very cute!


That's what we were told that they are.  Would've been my guess if I hadn't already been told that.

The vet was able to answer a lot of questions for me when I picked up some things.


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## brentr (May 15, 2011)

elevan said:
			
		

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I think She-earl (a bit weird typing that ) is right on.  They are not very old calves.  Did they say what they were crossed with?  Based on your weights I might guess that Brisket is half beef breed, maybe angus.  Tbone might be a dairy cross, either Guernsey or Holstein, based on the spotted coat and larger size.

If you're feeding store milk, you might be better off to switch them right onto calf milk replacer.  That'll be better for them than store milk, in my opinion.

They're great looking calves!  Enjoy them.


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## elevan (May 15, 2011)

brentr said:
			
		

> elevan said:
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We were told that they were both Jersey / Red Angus Cross.  But I didn't think that either breed has white on them...


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## brentr (May 15, 2011)

Jerseys can be spotted.  Not nearly as common in the breed as the dark brown to almost black coloring, but can happen.  We had Jerseys on the family dairy farm (along with Guernseys) and had several that carried the spotted gene and threw gorgeous calves.


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