So far so good

[ChickenLittle]

We got our calves a week and a half ago. It will be 2 weeks on Saturday. So far we have had no scours and they have had an amazing appetite. They look a little on the lean side so we upped their formula to 3 quarts 2 times a day instead of 2. Hopefully that will be alright.

What do you think? For those of you that grass feed from the start how do you get them started on eating grass and hay? I really don't want to feed grain but if I have to to keep their condition I will. Is there anything else I can do that can help them to keep the weight on without adding grain?

 

[she-earl]

They need grain now and now hay until they are six-weeks old. We are dairy farmer and upteen number of calf raising meetings that we have attended, always say now hay until six-weeks old. The grain will put flesh on them. By giving them more milk replacer, it is like raising veal calves - just keep increasing their milk.

 

[ChickenLittle]

Well I am definitely not intending to raise veal calves. The person we bought them from had them on 3 quarts a day when we picked them up. We dropped them down to two when we started them on the replacer. Now we are thinking we need to bump them back up where she had them when we got them.

I am just trying to raise them as naturally as possible. I had heard from others on here that you can raise babies without grain and they will start out eating grass and hay right off the bat and do fine. I am worried that if I start them on grain I will have to keep giving them grain to maintain their condition and I would like them to be grass fed beef cows if I can get them to do okay with that.

I am looking for others who are raising grass fed beef animals. What do you do if you don't have a cow for them to learn from so that they learn to eat the grass and the hay and do you feed grain while they are little and then wean them off the grain as they get older so they are totally grass fed.

Thoughts?

 

[boothcreek]

Those look like dairy-breed calves so to get any decent meat on them you have to grain them, they don't gain well on grass-only.

 

[ChickenLittle]

They are dairy bred calves. Both are Jersey's the spotty one has a little bit of Holstein way back according to the previous owner. I have read some posts on here about people raising calves on grass only with no grain and wanted to try it. The little brown one looks fine. He is actually looking like he's gaining well. He is also eating grass already and testing out the hay in the barn. The spotty one is not as quick as the other one and hasn't started eating anything yet other than replacer. I would love to get his growth up to where the other calf is. I will grain him if he continues to do poorly but if I have to grain him I will try and wean him off the grain and do just grass once he is eating that well. We did up their replacer today to see if that would help.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

I hate to burst your bubble but I strongly recommend you do not ever "wean" them off the grain. The best way to get them to lose condition quickly is to do just that and leave them on grass for the rest of their lives. Grass-fed dairy also doesn't taste all that great either.

They are not beef cattle that can and will do great on grass, they are dairy cattle and just like all dairy cattle are bred to produce milk from high-quality feed sources, and very often such sources are not grass and hay alone. If it is grass, it is very high quality grass that sustains them: up here, such grass grown for the local dairy herd is that of clover/alfalfa, orchard grass and timothy grass. Anything else (smooth brome, fescue, meadow brome, etc.: any grass that is low in rumen degradability, protein, and is considered "hard") will literally starve a dairy animal to death, regardless of age. I've personally seen the effects of a grass-only diet on a dairy cow that is genetically selected for a diet that's anything but and it's not pretty. The dairy calves that do well on "just grass" have the high-quality milk from the cows they suckle (or steal) from to supplement their protein and energy needs where grass is not enough. Obviously a similar thing is happening with these calves: they milk replacer you're feeding them gives them the protein and energy that they can't get from grass. Wait until you get them off the milk, then you just might start having problems with body condition.

I'll be very frank with you here: if you really want to raise cattle for the purposes of getting grass-fed beef, trade those two little rascals in for a weaned beef steer or two. JM2C.

 

[jhm47]

I completely agree with Karin on this. Dairy cattle just don't have the rumen capacity to eat enough grass to gain well. If you want a train wreck-------just quit the grain and watch them wither. Good luck!

 

[ChickenLittle]

I have the vet coming to check them out on Friday. The herd that they came from was a dairy Jersey herd that was grass only and the cows and calves were in great condition. We are a little concerned that the smaller brown one, although he looks okay might have an infection in his navel. We will have the vet check out the spotted cow as well and make suggestions as far as what we should do.

The small brown cow has great conditioning just with grass and milk right now. The other has not figured out how to eat the grass and hay and so isn't in as good condition.

I know that grass fed can be done with dairy cows as long as you have good pasture. The adds are full of heifers and bull calves that are raised on grass alone and most of them are dairy bred Jerseys and Holsteins. We have 12 acres of excellent pasture so we will be able to rotate them and give them good quality feed. I don't mind using grain as a supplement on top of hay as we aren't selling the beef as grass fed beef we are just growing for ourselves, but I would like the majority of their diet to be grass and hay. They will be healthier and in the long run the meat will be healthier for us to eat.

 

[she-earl]

With plenty of pasture, you may be able to raise them that way. However, at this age, they need grain to put on flesh. If they are not receiving enough nutrition, they will "live off their bodies" and will not flourish. Does the lagging calf have a fever? If it is a navel infection, the calf will need a heavy dose of penicillin for a week at least.

 

[california cowgirl]

Diary do not make good meat cattle. You are best asking the dairy people how they raise their calves. I will give you a few suggestions from my own experiences with bottle raising beef calves. They are not going to eat grass and hay and grain in huge amounts till their rumin starts working. They stomachs and gut are for milk only right now at this age. Talk to your vet when he comes and lets hope he knows about cattle enough to know how their stomachs work and only one is working right now. Go to this neat web page called CalfNotes.com and on the left hand side it has all these topics and notes they are numbered so start reading about how a calf's rumin works and how to feed a calf like you are attempting to do to raise it on its own without the cow. Baby calves are born with NO immune system they get it all from momma and her milk and they do NOT get a full one till they are around 3-4 months. Keep them clean and sheltered and fresh water and food to pick at or green they start to pick around but really do not eat much green grass like their moms for a while or hay and grain etc...BEWARE of SOY proteins in your milk replacer it should say ALL MILK PROTEINS and NO ALTERNATIVE proteins or PLANT baised proteins. Baby calves CAN NOT digest SOY they do not have the proper enzymes till they are much older like around 3-4 months and so it causes fermentation in their gut and colic with bloat and diarreah and death if you can not get the bloat out. A company that uses natural stuff for calf health is Van Beek Naturals google them and their scour tubes are great and Calvy drops and a mix for GI health I learned the hard way when I thought I had a terrible bug and our state vet hospital did all the tests with fecal blood and narcropsies and found out in the end it was the soy in my milk replacer. Soy Flour but there are 4 different kinds of soy they use. I have learned a lot. Also if they bloat you can use mineral oil and castor oil to get the bloat out it will hopefully get the gas to break down and the castor oil will move the gut. Also you can add some raw egg to the milk replacer for more protein and antibodies and plain yogurt a few tablespoons for good bacteria in the gut and activated Charcoal if you think they have scour bug it passes the bug that is what is in those scour tubes from Van Beek and they contain natural stuff for energy and health. I have never raise dairy calves but those sure look skinny but that might be the breed. Good luck!!!! but for sure look up that calfnotes and it talks a lot about all these topics you may need to learn to raise these calves. It is designed for dairy mostly it looked to me. #23 note was on Soy in milk replacers and other talked about rumin development and that is what makes them able to eat and digest solids and roughage it is something you can not force too much or they will get sick. Also beware of just feeding grain or just feeding manna or what you have to mix it with stuff like my friend she uses alfalfa pellets but maybe you vet can help you with that or the dairy you bought the calves from.