Weaning question

[Kettle Creek Cattle]

Ok farmerjan I'm back with another question. My calf is doing beyond better now. On Christmas eve she will be 6 weeks old. She's now eating hay and around 1.5 pounds of starter. Should I be thinking about getting her off the bottle, or just keep giving the 2 bottles plus all the hay and starter she can/will eat? If I should start weaning her, how do I go about doing so?

 

[farmerjan]

I wouldn't push getting her off the bottle with it being winter time. 8-10 weeks is plenty soon enough. What I try to do is start to wean when I get down towards the end of a bag of milk replacer.... But I usually leave them on a little longer in the cold weather.... Go to one bottle a day and up her feed a little bit.....for a week or so, then just quit the bottle. She should drink more water when you cut out the one bottle.... it is sort of a balance to make sure she is drinking enough. It doesn't matter which one you cut out first....do which is easier for you..... but she probably will like the warm bottle in the evening more. And you could just give her warm water in place of the bottle when you decide to quit the replacer for a week or 2. If the weather is cold she will probably appreciate it. Had one that loved her warm water bottle.... many do not.