Calves in cooler losing barrel shaped stomach. Need tips to keep them full.

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Sambosu

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 24, 2011
Messages
242
Location
Oklahoma
Okay, I started putting my kids show calves in our new cooler a little over a week ago and I noticed a big change in their stomach size.  Their stomachs are not as big as they were when they first started going in the cooler.  At night they get to roam the pasture and I have a round bale of Bermuda grass and all the feed they can eat in their feeder.  Since this doesn't seem to be working, I added a round bale of alfalfa to the pasture last night.  I also dewormed them over the weekend to make sure they would keep gaining weight.  I gave them safeguard paste three days in a row (power pack dosage).  Not sure if this has something to do with their stomachs being smaller.  Does anyone have any tips on how to keep their belly?  Thanks in advance.
 

carter o

Active member
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Messages
30
Do you feed them in the cooler? How long are they in there furing the day?
 

Sambosu

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Joined
Feb 24, 2011
Messages
242
Location
Oklahoma
They are in the cooler from approximately 6 in the morning until 8:30.  I feed them their morning ration before putting them in the cooler.  If they don't eat it all, I put the rest in the cooler.  They don't get any hay while they are in the cooler.  It really flies around and don't want it to mess up the system.
 

PSC

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Joined
Dec 8, 2010
Messages
69
we feed our in morning at 4 am before we put them in and feed them again at 4 pm in the cooler what ever left is put in a feeder in the pasture at 12 pm when we kick them out make sure they have fresh water you can try water in the cooler but most dont drink in there  have hay out also
 

carter o

Active member
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Messages
30
Winning fill or depth charge helps expand their gut and they love the winning fill. I dont know if you have water in the cooler but it helped ours eat alot better when we watered them in there. Not sure where your located in the central US but if you have access to R and B feeds out of atlantic iowa they have a product called come n get it. It smells like candy. Calves love it and they will usally eat alot better when u put this on sotheir feed! Sounds like your doing everything right. Just give it some time. They will get kind of rung oit the first week in the cooler so that could be part of the problem.
 
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