raising bottle babies...refresher course...

[linnettejane]

ok, my brother had a 15 year old cow that had twin heifers (his first set of twins)...he had raised this cow from a calf...she has never missed...been a great reliable producer...she had lots of trouble getting up after the twins, she did finally get up and was doing pretty good for about a week, then she got down again...lots of shots and visit from the vet couldnt save her..she passed away....so anyway...now he's bottle feeding the babies, and its been 20 years since ive done it ...he's never done it...how often should he be giving them a bottle and for how long?  the calves are just over 2 weeks old...

 

[linnettejane]

oops...wrong page...can someone move it to the big show...thanks

 

[beefy08]

Sorry I can't move it, but I gave the calves a full bottle twice a day until they were 6-8 weeks old. Right or wrong, thats the way I did it.

 

[shorthorns]

ok, my brother had a 15 year old cow that had twin heifers (his first set of twins)...he had raised this cow from a calf...she has never missed...been a great reliable producer...she had lots of trouble getting up after the twins, she did finally get up and was doing pretty good for about a week, then she got down again...lots of shots and visit from the vet couldnt save her..she passed away....so anyway...now he's bottle feeding the babies, and its been 20 years since ive done it ...he's never done it...how often should he be giving them a bottle and for how long?  the calves are just over 2 weeks old....
The best solution is to get one or two nurse goats. They do a great job and the calves usually turn out great...Good Luck.

 

[FutureBreeder2013]

i bottle fed dairy calves for a year and a half and we always gave bottle a day once in the morning at about 7 and the next one at bout 4-4:30

they always seemed to be healthy and grow pretty good

 

[lynle1234]

We gave ours a bucket (2 pints of milk replacement) twice a day.  Then i got attached an felt like she was still hungry prior to 'bedtime", so I ended up giving her a bucket at 7am, 3pm and 11pm.    Also, it said somewhere to put creep feed in with it and fresh water- so they could try it if they were bored.

 

[CM Cattle]

Sorry I can't move it, but I gave the calves a full bottle twice a day until they were 6-8 weeks old. Right or wrong, thats the way I did it.

That sounds right to me.

 

[forbes family farms]

I would give the calf a bottle two bottles a day night and morning at regular intervals.Milk should be 100 degress F especially during the first 3 weeks. I would keep giving them milk until the were 5 - 6 weeks old. You should put some creep feed in with the calves and fresh water in the pin with them.

 

[inthebarnagain]

We unfortunately have had a little bit too much experience with this!  Good milk replacer is a must.  We have used the Dumor brand that is sold at Tractor Supply, yes it is expensive but well worth it, calves fed right with this stuff don't look like bottle calves at all.  When they are about 3 weeks old we get the pelleted Dumor calf starter or Nutrena Milk Plus pellets.  Get a empty 20 ounce Coke bottle and put the pellets in, the calfs will come up, grab the bottle like they are nursing and eat the pellets when they get a few in their mouth.  Within a few days they will figure out that the same pellets are in a pan in their stall and eat on their own much quicker.  The Dumor products are the only ones that I would use.