Should I use replacer or Milk from neighbour's dairy for our new baby

[chicks & ducks]

We're getting our first jersey calf today. He's 3 days old and we'll have to bottle/bucket feed him. I've been reading all of the other 'new to calf' threads on here and they're great, as always. Just wondering what everyone's thought are on replacer vs 'fresh' milk. We are surrounded by dairy farms so there's a very good chance I can get 'real' milk instead of having to mix up the replacer. Saying that, I do worry about coccidia and I think there are replacers with coccidiosis ? Perhaps a half and half mix would be best?

What about worming? Do I need to worm this little guy now? Should I wait a week or two?

Anything other info, warnings, advice, etc you could offer? I know there are a lot of folks here with a lot of different theories-let them fly! I love to hear what everyone has to say.

 

[she-earl]

If you have access to milk, I would recommend that because there is less chance of scouring. I would suggest feeding 3 pints of milk twice a day. Our Holsteins we feed four pints and they are in the 90 - 100 pound weight at birth. Your options for whole milk could be from milk from fresh cows that isn't going in the tank yet, high cell count milk that the farmer may keep from going in the tank or milk from a cow that has been treated so her milk cannot be put in the tank. If you use the last option, you need to be careful about withhold periods for whatever the cow was treated with. A simple urine test by your vet could confirm if the calf would be OK to send to sale barn. If you are planning on raising it for a pet or meat later on, you should not have to be concerned about that. The calf should access to fresh water and a calf starter feed. I would not vaccinate, dehorn, etc. for at least two weeks to give the calf time to adjust to the stress of moving.

 

[chicks & ducks]

Thanks so much! We do hope to sell our babies off. The plan is to get them as 3 day olds, feed and pasture them as long as possible and then sell them on before winter sets in so we don't have to hay them over winter.
I'm not sure what you mean by the urine test/sale barn-does that mean if we get milk from a cow that was treated for something then the calf may have to be ok'd as not having that disease? I'm not sure how we will sell them yet, sale barn or how, but they will be sold on.

Thanks for the other info too! Much appreciated!

 

[jhm47]

No worries about worms till the calf starts to eat grass. See my post on your other thread about milk vs replacer.

 

[Cricket]

I work part time on a dairy farm and raise a few calves every year. I use milk replacer. While I would agree with what She-earl said, raising them on milk if you aren't right on the farm could be kind of a pain. If you buy milk out of the bulk tank, you'll pay the same price as for human consumption (in my area it's $2.50 a gallon). The milk that doesn't go in the bulk tank is because the cows were treated with antibiotics for (usually) mastitis or because it is from a just freshened cow who is still producing colostrum. Giving a calf milk with antibiotics in it can also kill off good bacteria in their gut according to some sources. Our Jersey calves from a mostly Jersey herd scour on colostrum given to them after the period they would naturally get colostrum. Milk replacer is a lot more consistent than getting milk from what ends up being different sources. If I had a consistent source of milk, (like mom!) I'd prefer it. I pay around $70. for a bag of replacer, which should go the 2 months to weaning. You can get it with the coccidiosis meds in it, but Corid is really easy to administer, too. I'd ask the dairy where you get the calves if they generally have to treat for it.

Animals given antibiotics have a withholding period before they can be butchered (or shipped for beef).

Best of luck!

 

[she-earl]

I was not meaning to use colostrum but the milk from second, third milkings that are not in the tank yet. The urine test would be if you needed to treat the calf for a sickness and then would be selling shortly after the meat withhold date. If it is a long time after the calf is treated that you sell it, you should have no problem if meds were given as directed. Should you get milk from the neighboring farmer from a cow that was treated for mastitis, I would not use the milk while the cow is actually being treated. I would use the milk that is after the cow's treatments are over but the milk is not able to be put in the tank. I would not think you should need to pay for that milk. Our neighbors get calves from us occasionally and we just give the milk to them. Why should they have to pay for it when it is not milk that we would be getting paid for. It would just be dumped down the drain. Our herdsman fattens a pig on this type of milk and his pigs are always bigger than any that his brothers raise.

 

[Cricket]

I wonder with our calves if it's because we have a mixed herd. I get my milk for my home use out of the pre-cooler--if I'm wanting to make butter, I wait 'til we have a parlor full of Jerseys, if more for yogurt or cheese, I wait 'til we have more Holsteins or Shorthorns (most are mixes). I know you can raise Jersey calves on Jersey milk, but think it's the varying fat content that screws things up here. Like they might have 6 feedings of lower fat milk and then a high fat cow freshen.

And yes, the pigs do well on this--I bring it home regularly for mine!

 

[chicks & ducks]

Thanks everybody! In the end we bought milk from the same farm as the calf. I hadn't realized it was an all organic farm, and they had stored fresh milk for the calf anyway so we bought a weeks worth for $24 and will get more next week. We also put some calf starter in by him today, he wasn't impressed at all but the alpaca went crazy for it and we kept having to shoo him away.

 

[Cricket]

Perfect!