Getting Calves on Saturday

[Mike Fronczak]

Since this is your first attempt at raising calves, I'd like to make a few suggestions for you. Here goes:
1. Start them on 1/2 whole milk from the supermarket, and 1/2 milk replacer for the first day.
2. Don't be afraid of the milk replacer with the antibiotics. It will help to reduce the possibility of scours for the first month or so.
3. Do use the 100% milk protein replacer. I'd look for places that sell the same quality for less $$$.
4. You did well in having them castrated and dehorned. Dairy bulls are notoriously dangerous, even at a young age.
5. Keep their bedding dry and deep, and keep their quarters draft free. They will be healthier and you won't need a heat lamp.
6. Start them on a good quality starter ASAP. Getting some solids into them will help to reduce the incidence of scours.
7. Keep them hungry. Give them 3/4 of the recommended amount for the first week, and gradually increase to full amount.
8. When you feed them, give them 3/4 of the powder and 3/4 of the water that's recommended. Don't cut the powder and feed full amount of water. These are Jerseys, and their digestive systems are not as big as other calves.
9. Let them eat a bit of hay ASAP. Our calves on pastures are eating grass as early as one week of age.
10. If they start to look sick, get help immediately. I've seen calves go downhill and die in less than 12 hours, so quick treatment is essential.
11. I'd be somewhat flexible on "grassfed" Jerseys. Jerseys are notoriously "hard keepers", and probably won't grow to their potential without some grain. Some species of grasses have less nutrient value than others, and since Jerseys don't have a lot of body capacity, they may not be able to eat enough to grow and put on muscle/meat. This is why I would not rule out feeding some grain.
12. If you have trouble, ASK QUESTIONS of someone who has lots of experience with cattle.
13. Good luck!!!

Very good advise we started out in cattle with a Jersey and a Jersey/Holestien cross both about 1 year old steers. They were high maintence compared to what we have now (lots of grain required). The Jersey always had a crazy look in his eye I never turned my back to him.

 

[ChickenLittle]

I just scored. We have a small grain, feed store about 30 minutes away and they sell medicated calf milk replacer for 73 dollars rather than 108. They have both medicated and unmedicated versions. Which do you recommend. Both are 50# bags and both are milk proteins only. That's a much better price

 

[jhm47]

I'd start with the medicated for about a month or so, and then go to the non-medicated. This will give you some protection against scours as you start the calves.

 

[ChickenLittle]

I'd start with the medicated for about a month or so, and then go to the non-medicated. This will give you some protection against scours as you start the calves.

Okay I will make sure to get the medicated to start. I am picking it up today. Should I also get some of the probiotic to feed to them or is the medications in the feed milk enough that it doesn't affect the good bacteria in their intestines? I am also going to ask if I can get some milk from her cows to mix with the replacer for the first few days so that it's an easier transition. Is there anything else I should do to make the transition easier? I read on some of the posts on here that it's a good idea to wait to feed them when you first get them home. Is that a good idea to do to help make sure they don't get scours.

We have a 12 by 12 stall inside a barn for them and will be using hay for bedding and we are planning on let them out after their morning feeding so they can be out on grass for the day and then back in for the evening.

At a week old do I still have to worry about them being cold? It is running about 60's during the day up here and 30's and 40's at night, but I was wondering if I should keep them in the stall rather than letting them out on days when the temps are lower or not.

 

[she-earl]

Calves should have milk, calf starter and fresh water until they are six-weeks-old. At that point, you can start weaning them and introducing them to hay and grass. Prior to that their stomachs are not able to handle the "forages". I would be concerned about them getting cold. Temps under 50 cause fast loss of body fat. I would suggest the calves are kept inside but not shut up. They should have fresh air moving around but above them so that they are not in a draft. Make sure that they are getting three pints of milk replacer twice a day, have fresh water and get them started on calf starter. As they begin to eat their feed, I would increase their milk replacer up to four pints twice a day.

 

[jhm47]

We calve in March/April here in SD. It is nearly always in the 30's - 40's during the day, and often gets down to 0 at night. The cattle are never inside, just have protection from wind. We do keep them bedded with straw or cornstalks. We sometimes have a calf that gets his ears nipped by frost, but it doesn't seem to hurt them. Only time we have a lot of trouble is when we get a snowstorm that lasts a couple days so the calves can't get dried off. Mud is a killer. The cows sometimes wade into deep mud near their feeders, get their teats muddy, and when the calves suck, they ingest bacteria that causes scours. We do have to move the hay feeders fairly often in order to prevent this.

Our calves often start nibbling on some hay as young as a week. Of course, we don't start them on grain until weaning, unless we decide it's profitable to creep feed them. I guess we might start some of them on creep this fall, since the feeder calf market is quite high. Saw some 400 lb calves bring $2.20 a pound the other day. Cheaper corn will really help the feeder price. The fact that there is a much better hay crop nationwide is also a factor. All in all, I look for very profitable conditions for beef cattle for the next several years. I'd also not be surprised if fed cattle rose to near $1.40 a lb this fall.

 

[ChickenLittle]

Love the farm and the calves are just wonderful. The kids named them Lasagna and Prime Rib so that they could remember that we were going to eat them in a year or two. The lady who had them was very nice and gave us two large buckets of milk to mix in with their replacer formula. She also gave them a dose of penicillin when she did the disbudding and castrating to make sure that they wouldn't get sick. They both look really healthy and their coats are soft and shiny and their eyes are bright so I think they are very healthy. The smaller one is about 50lbs and is full jersey the larger one is jersey/holstein mix. She said it had holstein but was way back. They took right to the bottle tonight and ate really well. She said she had been feeding 3 quarts to the larger one and 2 to the smaller one. I cut them back a little bit since it is their first day on formula and the smaller one got 1.5 quarts and the larger one got 2.5 quarts. It was 2 quarts of replacer and 2 quarts of milk. They got right up when we came in with the bottle buckets and drank really fast. Then we rinsed and cleaned the buckets and put them away for tomorrow morning. Now they are laying down and sleeping together.

Here are some pictures. Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures. I only had my Iphone. It takes mediocer pictures. I will get better ones tomorrow when we let them outside to be with the sheep babies.

We are going to feed them tomorrow morning and let them out with the other babies, we have baby sheep and goats. They are all fed their grain etc in their stalls so they won't be able to get at each others grain. The older one was nibbling a little bit at hay in the stall once it was done drinking so I think that might be a good sign. I can't wait to get them out on grass and see what they think of it. I would have taken them out tonight but I didn't want them to have too many changes since we just drove them home. The good thing is the farm was only 10 miles from us so we didn't have to travel far with them. Hopefully it was a quick enough trip it didn't stress them out.

 

[ChickenLittle]

So far so good they have been eating like champs and peeing a lot. I haven't actually seen them poop though since I have had them but they did have a little bit of dry poo on their bums when we got them. Today we took them outside for a while. They led really well in their halters and then we let them off so they could explore. They really liked being outside and were licking at the dirt and grass. One even tried exploring the hay as well but didn't really eat it much. They already look bigger than they did yesterday.

Here's some better pictures.

 

[new2cows]

Thanks for the pictures and story, they look great and so cute.

 

[Moonshine]

Awe! I just love babies! Looks like you got a lot of good advice and I'm sure y'all will be fine parents!