3 month old heifer refusing a bottle

[farmerjan]

Basically agree with cjc. Dairy farmers will wean anywhere from 6 weeks to 3 months, that is after the calves are eating grain. Beef calves will continue to nurse as long as momma lets them or until weaned by the farmer. You will see babies "copying" their mommas and chewing on grass and hay as little as 2 weeks but their rumen doesn't develop much until a couple of months. I offer hay free choice to calves from about a month, so they learn to get a feel for it if they are bottle calves. Since they are bottle calves, they can't just go get a little something when they want like a calf on a cow; those eat alot less per feeding, just eat alot more often. Another reason to give bottle calves grain so that they can munch on something and get more protein to grow.

 

[farmerjan]

Log in, then click on your username at the top right of the page. It should bring up your profile page, that says something like:
http://www.backyardherds.com/account/.
You can also just hold your cursor over the same username--just to the left of 'inbox'. A drop down box will appear and you will then click "personal details". you can edit your profile from there. t the bottom of that page, below gender/birthday etc, there is an "about you" text box in which you can type in anything about yourself you wish, tho that option may not exist for newest of members.
That page looks similar to this (only larger) :
View attachment 20818

Thanks for the help. I am definitely not a big computer person. Think that I got it figured out and at least fixed the "gender"!!!!! HA HA HA. I don't go on the computer alot and will have to upgrade as I am still using an old windows xp version. But for now it is still working. We have had quite a bit of rain so haying has been difficult but it dried up these last few days and I have been on the tractor raking several afternoons after getting home from milk testing. Fall calving season is starting, got the first 2 new calves on the first calf heifers. We usually calve 10 to 20 new heifers a year, as well as the cows. We split it into 2 groups, spring and fall with 80 to 100 in each group. Normally mostly calve the heifers in the spring but this group was getting a little older so we opted for early fall. Good year for it since pastures have been so lush all year. Cows will be starting in another week or two and hope to be done by mid-nov. Gotta head out , thanks again.

 

[farmerjan]

I'm sure any one of us will be glad to help you when you're back and ready. Have a safe trip!

Thanks for the welcome etc. Greybeard gave some more detailed instructions and I at least got the "gender" part fixed!!! Ha Ha . I don't go on the computer alot but will be glad to share some of my years of experience. I posted some stuff about me that I figure is available to others to read so you can see I have done a little over the years. Prefer to be smaller than we are, but my son is trying to pay for a recent farm purchase and so we are running alot of cattle and farming alot of land. We rented most all that we farm until this purchase of 75 + acres, but there are 3 places that are now on the market so we will need to readjust when they are sold. One place we have had for 25 years now has a contract on it so it may be gone this fall, the owner's wife passed on and he wants to move closer to his children and doesn't want all the work of the place anymore. It's alot of work to have so much scattered out but my son wants to retire from his job in 15 years to a paid for farm to enjoy soooo....I am 62+ and plan to retire from my job soon and want to have enough ss and retirement to live on and extra from my cattle sales to not struggle too much. I can and freeze, and eat my own meat so don"t have alot of expenses now, vehicles all paid for etc. Plan to do cow-shares for milk from my dairy cows once I get a little more time to spend with them again. Have had severe knee and ankle issues and all the talk about replacements, but am trying something called PROLOTHERAPY that my "female" doctor told me about and cannot believe that it is not more widely known. If it works as everyone says it will, I will not need any surgery. Hope this isn't " TOO MUCH INFORMATION" !!!!

 

[Latestarter]

Sounds like you're doing OK for a gal your age. Wonder where you get your energy. Sorry about the med issues. Seems they strike all of us as we get up there in age. I don't even want to think about joint replacements or any major medical issues really. Only major issue I have is my lower back which I initially hurt back in '87. Never been the same since. But when it ails me, I just go easy for a bit till it mends up, then go back about my merry way. It's 'reminding me" that it's there right now matter of fact... Thanks for sharing a bit about you. Again, glad to have you here with us and hope you'll feel welcome and at home.

 

[Fruin farm]

You don't want to take off the milk replacer until the calf is eating at least two pounds of grain a day but again change must be done slowly however it is good to get the calf to drink from a bucket and get him off the bottle because it makes it hard to transition when they are used to drinking with their heads up we got our calf drinking from the bucket after 3 days typically completely off the bottle in one week of age. It's a lot easier just to put a milk bucket out verses having to bottle feed also don't let them in the past. When the grass is real when it's not healthy for them at first it could bloat and get sick. Introduce them to the pastor a little bit at the time and after the morning dew is gone

 

[cjc]

@Fruin farm I have heard a lot of debate about feeding calves from a bucket and that the performance of the calf long term declines when you feed them from a bucket rather than from a nipple. What are your thoughts/experience on that? I strictly keep to the bottle over the bucket because of the concern.

 

[farmerjan]

If the calf is getting what it needs nutritionwise, I have not seen any difference in growth. Done both, buckets are easier and most dairy farms also get them on buckets. One thing, bottle calves and especially those raised on cows, are more likely to try to steal off cows in the field if not kept separate for a good while. If you are going to be putting them in the same field after weaning, definitely try to get them on a bucket so they don't associate milk with a nipple....