baby calf

My grandpa's cow just had a first time calf. The momma wouldn't take him. My grandpa said that he didn't have time to mess with the baby, so he left his future in my hands. I brought him from my grandpa's house to mine, and made him a little pen in my back yard. There are tarps blocking the wind and a bright light and a bed of hay to try to keep him warm. He is three days old now, and I feed him a whole bottle every morning before school at 6 and every afternoon at about 5. My mom feeds him half a bottle around lunch time while I'm at school. I've never bottle fed a baby calf before, am I feeding him enough? I am using a Purina Milk Replacer. Is there anything special I need to know or do in the process of my baby calf growing up. Also, how long do I bottle feed him before I can stop? Thanks for any help.

Good luck! Try reading this thread, there is a lot of good information there.
http://www.steerplanet.com/bb/index.php/topic,208.0.html
Red

Make sure he has had enough colostrum. How long was he with the cow?

We only feed ours twice a day. At the begining we usually make sure the feedings are approximately 12 hours apart. Make sure you don't make the milk replacer too thick or they might get scours.

And if they do scours (it happens), get some electrolite and one of those blue calf bolus antibacterial pills and dissolve it in warm water and mix it with the electrolite. A lot of people say to give them the pill seperate but sometimes it chokes them a little and if you put it in their bottle they'll drink it right down. The next day, make half electrolite, half milk, and a bolus pill.

His bedding sounds good. He should stay warm there. 

Weaning can vary. Anywhere from 3-6 months should be fine if he's eating his feed good.

Just keep a close eye on him and he should do well. Usually the ones from other farms do better than the ones from the sale barn so he should be fine. On our farm, we raise 3-5 bucket calves per year. This year we had all steers- one from a neighbor, one from a relative, and one from the sale barn. We had a heifer not claim her first calf either but she was halter broke retired show heifer so we tied her up twice a day for the calf for 4 months.

Good luck with him. 

I wouldnt feed her more than what u are my bottle calves only got fed in the morning and at night. And at about a month old i start intoducing feed to them, when they go to suck on your finger just put feed on your hand and thats how i've started mine on feed. Make sure that he stays out of the rain and cold. I bottle feed mine till they were eating enough that i was happy with.

showstick09 said:

My grandpa's cow just had a first time calf. The momma wouldn't take him. My grandpa said that he didn't have time to mess with the baby, so he left his future in my hands. I brought him from my grandpa's house to mine, and made him a little pen in my back yard. There are tarps blocking the wind and a bright light and a bed of hay to try to keep him warm. He is three days old now, and I feed him a whole bottle every morning before school at 6 and every afternoon at about 5. My mom feeds him half a bottle around lunch time while I'm at school. I've never bottle fed a baby calf before, am I feeding him enough? I am using a Purina Milk Replacer. Is there anything special I need to know or do in the process of my baby calf growing up. Also, how long do I bottle feed him before I can stop? Thanks for any help.

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You can start introducing feed to them as quick as you want.  They'll start eating it whenever they are ready.

They make buckets with nipples that work very well once you get them eating good.  Less work with them.

Did your grandpa give the calf any colostrum in the approximate 24 hour period following its birth?  If not, I have some concern for its ability to fight off infection of all kinds.  Hopefully, he did, but watch the calf closely for sickness.

Be sure to follow to the letter the instructions on the milk replacer bag.  It's always best to leave 'em a little hungry.  Don't worry if he's bellowing and appears hungry.  that's a good thing!  I'd only feed twice a day.  You can offer good quality hay (fine stemmed grass for now) at any time but hold off on any grain for now.  The calf will probably sleep on and waste the hay now but one day soon you'll se it nibbling on it.  Once it gets on hay, the possibility for scours goes way down. btw, I raised dairy calves from 2 days old to about 300-350 pounds before I had kids.  Labor intensive, for sure, but they sure do get tame, don't they!

chambero said:

You can start introducing feed to them as quick as you want.  They'll start eating it whenever they are ready.

They make buckets with nipples that work very well once you get them eating good.  Less work with them.

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Yes, those work wonders. Braden dry-Start Bottle, is the name. If a dumb-butted Holstein bull calf can figure 'em out, a strong, little black calf with hybrid vigor will take off, when using those things.
Parent company that sells 'em is in Sulphur Springs, TX.

My kids have had bucket calves for years and raised a few myself.
As the others have said, make sure the calf had colostrum.
You have a good milk replacer in the Purina.  Follow the directions on the bag.  Feed morning and night. Do not over feed milk replacer that can cause scours.
Have water available for the calf to drink as well.
Offer hay, not alfalfa yet.  In a week or so it is good to try to offer the Purina Startena.  The dry bottle grain feeder worked great for our calves as well. 
When the calf starts eating the grain well, it is time to think about weaning.  At that time, start putting less milk replacer in the water until all they get is water.  Should take maybe a couple weeks at most.  We usually never fed more that two bags of milk replacer per calf before they were weaned.

Good luck!

Before we brought the baby calf to my house, we tried in every way to let it suck on his momma. One time, she actually tried to kill him. She head butted him against the wall on the barn and wouldn't let him go. After the cow gets bred back, my grandpa intends on taking her to the sale barn. The  baby calf did get colostrum. Not from his momma though, my grandpa bought some from Tractor Supply and gave it to him. He is a very playful and active calf to only be 4 days old. Thank you for all of the replies. I will get some pictures up soon and keep everybody up to date.

good on the colostrum. That's the key factor! Just watch him & make sure he's eating. Keep an eye for scours or any temp.

Can't wait for the pictures!

Red

FUN!    We did Holstein bull calves for several years.  Lots of work but when corn was cheap, it was good way to make some $$$. 

The only thing I have to add is when you start to give him grain use a good textured feed rather than a pellet.  The textures seem to stick to their noses when they are checking out the feed pan.  That causes them to lick it off and helps get them started.