Should I have a creep feeder for my calves?

[Azriel]

I have 2 beef heifer calves that I bucket raised, and are now out on pasture with my other cows. They are about 5 months and I almost have them weaned. I am only able to feed them in the evening after work, and I am still giving them milk replacer but have been cutting them back and hope to have them totaly weaned in the next week or so. I put them in a pen by themselfs for about a half hour so they can eat their pellets without the adults pushing them away from their feed. I have been checking their weight with a horse weight tape, so not sure how accurate it is, but it looks to me like they have been gaining about 30# a week. I want to do my best by them, and I'm not sure if they are getting enough of the pellets. I leave them in their pen till they walk away from the feed on their own, but I feel like they should have access to the pellets more than once a day.

 

[jhm47]

I really doubt that they are gaining 30# a week. That would be over 4# a day, and it's quite rare for any heifer, bull, or steer to gain that much. To answer your question---they seem to be gaining well, so I'd keep on doing what you're doing. Feeding once a day is fine. How many pounds of pellets are you feeding them per day?

 

[Azriel]

I rechecked the weight tape, and I keep getting just over 100# in just under a month, so I guess its more like 20+ a week. I'm not sure how much each calf is getting, I give 2 2 1/2 gal pails to 3 calves. Its a 16% calf creep feed pellets, they eat as much as they want in about a half hour to 45 min. then I turn them back out with the cows. They have pretty good pasture with the fall rains we've been getting, its a mix of alfalfa, sanfoin and native grasses.