Bottlefeeding or Dam Raising?

Erinlovescows

Just born
Joined
Aug 15, 2019
Messages
4
Reaction score
3
Points
9
It seems like there are a lot of schools of thought on this. Which do you do and why?

And if you bottlefeed, what do you bottle feed calves?
 

farmerjan

Herd Master
Joined
Aug 16, 2016
Messages
10,198
Reaction score
38,756
Points
748
Location
Shenandoah Valley Virginia
What specifically are you looking to do? Are these dairy cows or beef cows? Beef calves should be raised by their dams. That is their purpose. If dairy, then you need to decide if you are going to want to milk the cow. There are many different ways to raise calves on dairy cows. Some of mine are strictly nurse cows, they raise several calves at a time and I don't milk them. I have some that will have calves and then I lock them away from the cow at night and milk in the morning, then let the calves back with the cows full time. Have one that will let the calves nurse in the barn while in a stanchion, but will not take them out in the field. If I want to milk morning and night, then the calves get bottle fed from the cow's own milk. If I get a calf and don't have a cow to graft it on, then it will get bottle fed. 20/20 ALL MILK milk replacer. They don't do good on soybased milk replacer. At about 2 weeks you can introduce some calf starter grain and then wean the calf off the milk at 8-12 weeks when it is eating a couple of pounds of feed a day plus hay. It will have to have grain for approximately 8-12 months before it can do okay on just a hay/grass diet.
 

Erinlovescows

Just born
Joined
Aug 15, 2019
Messages
4
Reaction score
3
Points
9
What specifically are you looking to do? Are these dairy cows or beef cows? Beef calves should be raised by their dams. That is their purpose. If dairy, then you need to decide if you are going to want to milk the cow. There are many different ways to raise calves on dairy cows. Some of mine are strictly nurse cows, they raise several calves at a time and I don't milk them. I have some that will have calves and then I lock them away from the cow at night and milk in the morning, then let the calves back with the cows full time. Have one that will let the calves nurse in the barn while in a stanchion, but will not take them out in the field. If I want to milk morning and night, then the calves get bottle fed from the cow's own milk. If I get a calf and don't have a cow to graft it on, then it will get bottle fed. 20/20 ALL MILK milk replacer. They don't do good on soybased milk replacer. At about 2 weeks you can introduce some calf starter grain and then wean the calf off the milk at 8-12 weeks when it is eating a couple of pounds of feed a day plus hay. It will have to have grain for approximately 8-12 months before it can do okay on just a hay/grass diet.

We have just a few cows, that are to help keep our pasture down and looking to breed in the future. I do have small children and I am a photographer, so I would love to be able to use them in sort of a "petting zoo" sort of fashion.
 

farmerjan

Herd Master
Joined
Aug 16, 2016
Messages
10,198
Reaction score
38,756
Points
748
Location
Shenandoah Valley Virginia
If you are looking for a "petting zoo" type deal, then a bottle calf is fine. Calves will be happier if they have a buddy, although when they are on bottles, it is better to keep them separate so they don't suck each other when they are done with their bottles. Calves will suck, ears, tails, and navels, if 2 bottle calves are together. There's nothing wrong with bottle calves, just realize that they will not make you any money like we used to do. Most bottle calves are of dairy breeds, holstein bull calves being the most common. Get them banded/castrated as soon as possible, and they will do okay. They will not be very "beefy" but will make decent beef to kill at about 18-24 months if fed well so they gain. Sometimes black calves are available.. many dairy farmers are breeding a portion of their herd to beef bulls. These calves will get beefier and make good freezer beef for you and can just as easily be bottle raised.
If you don't have alot of experience with dairy cattle, then having a cow as a nurse cow is not for you right off the bat. If you are milking her, then feeding the calf that would be great. But to "graft" a calf onto a cow usually takes a little bit of experience, and LUCK. And sometimes they will just be a sweetheart and take another calf...... but that's really LUCK.
Bottle feeding a calf is fun and a good experience for a kid. Also a big responsibility. If you get one, do NOT buy it at an auction. Find a dairy and ask to buy one or two, at 2-3 days old that have had a couple of feedings of colostrum. Or talk to a neighbor that has beef cattle and tell them that if they have on orphan (where the cow dies or is unable to take care of it), or a set of twins and the cow cannot/will not be able to feed 2, that you will be interested. Many times a calf off a beef cow is because she has a terrible udder, or no/little milk, or she was injured while calving, or dies.... or a cow that has twins and sometimes won't take one or just won't have enough milk and they will pull one off after a couple of days..... You just want to try to get one that has had colostrum. You can buy a bag of colostrum to mix if the calf has not had any..... it is EXPENSIVE, but contains the antibodies that a new calf requires to get a good start. Then switch to a good quality milk replacer.
 

Ridgetop

Herd Master
Joined
Mar 13, 2015
Messages
6,572
Reaction score
22,275
Points
693
Location
Shadow Hills, CA
If you have dairy goats for house milk, you probably have at least 2 in milk. (And we all know how hard it is to have just 2!) With 2 standard dairy goats you will be getting from 1.5 gallons daily up to 3 gallons daily depending on how heavily they milk. You can use the extra milk to feed a dairy bull calf or any calf you can obtain like FarmerJan has mentioned. Do make sure the calf has colostrum. Most dairy farmers don't bother giving the bull calves colostrum because the calf broker comes around and takes all the dairy bull calves for a small price. They are not worth anything to a dairy farmer so the farmer has no incentive to waste time or colostrum on the calf.
 

farmerjan

Herd Master
Joined
Aug 16, 2016
Messages
10,198
Reaction score
38,756
Points
748
Location
Shenandoah Valley Virginia
The holstein bull calf market here goes up and down. Right now it is down, but the black calves that result from the beef (angus or simmi or Limi) crosses are bringing good money. There are very few calf brokers in this area. Most farmers will feed the colostrum to all the calves because they will have them for 1 - 5 days before they can go to the stockyards. And for awhile, holstein bull calves were bringing $2-500.00 so it was definitely worth their while to make sure they got colostrum.
In fact I cannot say that I know of any that don't get at least one feeding in them before they leave the farm. Many go to people with nurse cows, or small time farmers that raise a few to a dozen and the word gets around if they get calves that don't do good and then the farmer loses direct sales. Again, our area has more small dairies 50-300 cows than some so maybe practices here are different.
There is also a demand for calves in the spring and the fall for beef farmers who may have a cow that loses a calf and rather than sell her or let her go dry and not raise anything, they will graft a dairy (holstein bull ) calf on them to salvage the lactation. That is what we do with any of the cows we have if I can at all work with them. You won't make any money, but you will get something back, and the cow is happier and she will be out with her herd, and they will breed back. Besides the calf will really grow good, so it is still better than a lost lactation or selling an otherwise good cow that had the misfortune of not being able to raise her own calf.
 

Latest posts

Top