Cattle questions

Foxmanor

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I’m new to cattle and it’s so hard to find info on feeding just 1-2. If I was a commercial dairy or beef operation I’d know exactly what and how to feed, lol. To make it even more difficult no local feed stores carry cattle feed, the one will make it but only in bulk which isn’t feasible for me. I’m basically guessing on what to feed my girl (educated guesses) She’s 8 months now and was a bottle baby. I was also confused about her breeding. I know her mother was an Amish farm Holstein but I swear the guy said he bred all his to angus, but when I responded “so she’s angus x Holstein, then?” He said she was Holstein. It was confusing. Does she look like an angus cross? Also how is her body condition? Her coat seems weird to me. At 2 days old was like plush velvet, different then all the other calves. An old time dairy man told me her coat was that way because she was premature. She was wobbly for about her first week of life, but ate fine and was healthy otherwise. I don’t know if he was just talking or if that’s a real thing. Her coat now it’s starting to plush up and get really thick but it’s also long in spots and not thick at all, mostly at the top. is that normal or am I feeding her wrong?
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farmerjan

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Welcome :welcome here....
Couple of things. First, she is not an angus x holstein. 99.9% angus x are black, mostly black with some white under the belly, tail, feet, etc. She is straight holstein.
I am assuming that you are hoping to milk her ???? She will way overproduce what you can use unless you have a BIG family. But, you can raise an extra calf or 2, feed extra to pigs, make cheese and all sorts of other stuff.
Her hair coat looks fine....normal looking from the pictures.

She might be a tad bit small, but it is hard to compare without another next to her. But her body condition looks good. No pot belly which so many get if they are not getting enough protein to grow properly so I think you are on the right tract. How much grain are you giving her? The rule of thumb is 1-2% of her body weight.... so a 500 lb calf should get up to 10 lbs of grain.... which is about 1/3 of a 5 gal bucket.....per day. Usually split grain feedings so they don't get acidosis..... like eating 2 lbs of fudge at one sitting rather than split into a couple smaller indulgences during the day.

Looks like real nice hay.

I think you are doing a good job so far, from the looks of her. She might just be small because she was a little premature. They often have a "pelt" more than a hair coat as a premie....if she was a little weaker in the beginning then that explains it....sometimes there are mineral issues for the cow during pregnancy, that the calf will be lacking vit E & Selenium.... can cause them to "knuckle over" and have weak joints... a shot of BoSe as a baby will usually fix that most times. There are alot of areas in the US that are lacking minerals.

Can you put your general area in your profile? Helps when trying to help on advice.... Looks like you are more northern tier.... the snow....
 

Foxmanor

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Thanks for the info, she’s a big girl, my fence used to have goats so it’s tall. I’m glad you don’t think she’s mixed, I did notice all the mixes seemed to be almost all black but google images are not something I trust for solid info. She’s going to be the family milk cow but if she was mixed we would either have tried her out as a milk cow or let her raise a calf for beef. We love her ❤️ so she’s here to stay either way. We have pigs so we planned on raising them on it. She gets a 2 gal bucket almost full in the am and about half full at night, she has a round bale that is alfalfa clover trefoil grass mix but she hates it. She’s picky about hay and will only eat the good stuff. The round bale is good but coarse so she really just picks at that. Because I get annoyed at her picky butt she gets a few flakes of the soft grass hay and has access to the round bale. My hope is that she gets enough of the flakes to not bloat and if she needs or wants more she has to eat the other hay. It seems to work. Everyone told me how cows will eat any practically any hay but I guess no one told my girl that. She used to get alfalfa cubes and pellets because I couldn’t find alfalfa or alfalfa heavy hay where I live, but she hasn’t had them recently. Do you think I should be adding that? She also gets a mineral mix free choice. I don’t have a scale but I did do the heart girth length thing to find her weight I’m not sure if that only works for beef cows but it said she’s about 750lb based on her measurements, I’d assume dairy breeds are lighter so I’d guess she’s 650-730 if that’s the case. I was also wondering if I should be giving her more oats now that it’s cold out?
 

farmerjan

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Don't change what is working. I think your protocol is just fine. A dairy animal will weigh more than you think, their build being different than the beef animals. If she is 8 months and weighs 700, she is right on target.
Best suggestion is to try to buy 2nd cutting when you do so that she doesn't waste as much. Cattle will eat most hay if they are hungry.... yours is a little spoiled;):hide:lol:, so she is naturally going to make you feel guilty about not giving her what SHE thinks she needs.
It sounds like you are doing it just fine. I would not up her oats/grain just for the cold. Eating more hay actually will help her rumen work more which translates into actually making more body heat.
 
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