Bottle Baby Advice Needed!

[WildRoseBeef]

At that age, what would cause scours would be different--usually--from what would cause a young calf to scour. Get the feces tested to see what she may have and what can be done to treat her. She could have coccidiosis, which is common for calves at this age to get, but you'll need either a blood and/or fecal to determine. Usually a vet would recommend a dewormer to treat because this is a parasitic infection, not a bacterial nor viral infection.

 

[Blue Sky]

How much starter should two-three week old calves have? Angus x Holstein.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

Not too much that they're going to want that instead of the bottle, and not too little that they'll not want to eat much of it. I'd say about 1% of their body weight per day, but the exact number you'll have to play around with. Don't be alarmed if they don't eat it right away, because it takes time for them to know that the starter is something they can and should want to eat.

 

[Blue Sky]

Not too much that they're going to want that instead of the bottle, and not too little that they'll not want to eat much of it. I'd say about 1% of their body weight per day, but the exact number you'll have to play around with. Don't be alarmed if they don't eat it right away, because it takes time for them to know that the starter is something they can and should want to eat.

Not too much that they're going to want that instead of the bottle, and not too little that they'll not want to eat much of it. I'd say about 1% of their body weight per day, but the exact number you'll have to play around with. Don't be alarmed if they don't eat it right away, because it takes time for them to know that the starter is something they can and should want to eat.

Not too much that they're going to want that instead of the bottle, and not too little that they'll not want to eat much of it. I'd say about 1% of their body weight per day, but the exact number you'll have to play around with. Don't be alarmed if they don't eat it right away, because it takes time for them to know that the starter is something they can and should want to eat.

Thanks. They are beginning to put on weight and are very frisky.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

Great to hear! Hope they continue that way for a long while yet.

 

[WyndSyrin]

It took my first bottle baby about 2 weeks before he got the memo about the calf starter

 

[Donna R. Raybon]

Vaccinate for clostridium diseases- blackleg, etc...
Biggest worry is did anyone make sure she got adequate good quality colostrum????

Provide her with water, too. Fix it so she won't knock it over and make a mess. I used gallon bucket. A well hydrated calf is a healthy calf!!! Provide her with a high quality calf starter grower, too. I weaned my bottle calves at 45 to 60 days old (when they were eating 2 pounds of starter a day) down to just one bottle a day for another two to four weeks.
Every day I would put out a cup (literally) of starter and remove what was not consumed daily to replace with fresh. Goats and other cows got the leftover. Have feeder up off the ground so she won't step in it and make a mess. As calf began to eat more and more, I would put out a bit more until they were up to two pounds per day. Since the starter had coccidia treatment in it, I did not have to treat calves IF they were eating enough.

The volatile fatty acids which are a by product of feed fermentation encourage rapid rumen development. This is rather new finding as old info was that hay and roughage was what did it. I do put good quality grass hay available to calf at about a month old. Just to get them used to seeing it. They go out in a small grass lot when weather is not wet or too cold. Since they cannot go to momma and warm up with milk if they get wet/cold, I try to keep them dry until a couple months old. By that time they have figured out to go into barn with my goats when they go in if it rains.

The pot bellied calves that were mentioned were most likely not given a good quality calf starter grower in enough quantity to support growth after milk weaning. Formulated for starting and growing calves is very important.

And, yes, you can feed milk until about seven months old if it is more or less free. I did when I had a 'nurse cow' or extra milk that otherwise would be dumped. After he was a few weeks old trained calf to drink from a tub and dumped extra milk to him.

 

[Donna R. Raybon]

It took my first bottle baby about 2 weeks before he got the memo about the calf starter

Yep!!! It is amazing to watch a cow/calf pair and how quick that calf mimics momma and starts eating grain!!! I sold all my cows a couple years ago, but still get my fix by filling in on dairy farm. Sunday morning is my set day to work, although I milk at other times if they are in hay or at a dairy meeting. We are milking 23 'good' cow and 6 more that either are being tx for mastitis or have just freshened. There are four bottle babies and another four will become bottle baby once momma goes into milk tank. All 100% Jersey and awesome!!! Our milk goes to Dairy Farmers of American and Borden is one of the namebrands.