New calves...

[CountryMommy]

So my dh broke down and agreed to let me have a calf on our "farm". Little did he know that when he said one I heard two and when we went to get them we agreed on three! We have two little Jersey cross girls and a Jersey cross boy. The girls are each 2-3 days old, but the little boy was only a day old when we got him. I have LOTS of questions and hope you all don't mind helping out a greenhorn...

1) We are bottle feeding them, and we know 4 pints twice a day... my question is what do you do when they won't take the bottle. We tried when we first got them home and they obviously weren't hungry or they were still stressed from the moving but when we tried later that night they gobbled it down (we also discovered that warm milk is better... I did say we are greenhorns at this remember ) I went to feed them this morning and again they aren't hungry.. can they wait until after Church or should one of us stay home to feed?

2) The little boy, Romeo, has loose stools. Is this because he is only a day old and the stress of moving to a new place, or should we be concerned with the possibility of scours? The other two don't seem to be having any trouble, but they are a few days older.

3) When should we start grain/hay?

I think those are all of my questions.... for now... I will post pictures later today of Tinkerbelle, Romeo, and Buttercup.

 

[haviris]

Jersey's are kind of small, you may be over feeding them. I'd cut the amount down and feed more often. My calf this year I start w/ 4 bottles a day, but 3 would probably be enough. My calves are beef calves and bigger then a jersey, so I'm not really sure about the amount, but my calves get 4 pints per feeding, so I'd think that's to much for a jersey.

 

[she-earl]

We have Holsteins and they get 4 pints twice a day. However, if I have a smaller than average calf, I will decrease it to 3 pints per feeding. If they are really small, I have already started at 2 pints per feeding. You want them to be looking for more milk when they are done and not that they are so stuffed at that feeding they "can't drink any more" feel. We put calf starter feed and water in front of them when they are two - three days old. When we wean them at six weeks of age, then we give them their first hay. The move may have stressed them. You can but packets of electrolytes that you mix with water and can feed via a bottle. However, the electrolytes don't provide nutrition so it would be good to either alternate the feedings between milk and electrolytes.

 

[Imissmygirls]

The difference in feeding beef calves and jerseys is like night and day.
I've never been able to overfeed a beef calf. They just inhale. Jerseys you need to feed JUST until the sides look slightly full. On small ones, that can be only a quart the first few feedings.
Yours are very young. They may be unused to the type of bottle nipple you are using. The milk replacer may be different and smell different that what they are used to.
Be patient and use your finger as a teat to guide them onto the nipple. It's messy and can be frustrating but they will get it sooner rather than later.
Also, make sure the hole in the nipple works decently so they actually get milk out of it. Some dairy nipples are huge in a little Jersey mouth. Try a lamb nipple?