when to transition from bottle to bucket?

[farmgirl]

I would like to know when to transition my calves to a bucket. They are two weeks old, and do very well at the bottle, with no problems, they both finish about the same time. When should I start?

 

[wynedot55]

you can start trying to get them to drink out of the bucket now.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

I switch my calves at 3-4 days old so, go ahead anytime now.

 

[JerseyXGirl]

Do you have to transition from bottle to bucket or can you just wean them from the bottle?

 

[wynedot55]

no you can wean them from at bottle at 2 or 3 months old.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

If you have water in front of them so they will learn to drink from the pail that way then you can keep them on the bottle. But, they will need the water pail as you can not get enough milk/milk replacer in the bottle as they grow older. It's also easier on you doing chores if they go on pail.

One of the reasons I start my calves so early on the pail, besides ease of feeding, is sucking problems. We used to have trouble with the calves sucking each other. This can ruin udders and navels in a hurry. I found pail training early helped solve this.

 

[Imissmygirls]

Kitty, that's a subject I don't recall reading about for the beginners: the dangers of allowing sucking on animal parts. NEVER let them form any habit like that.
It's one of the reasons farmers use calf hutches: to separate them so they cannot suck.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

Kitty, that's a subject I don't recall reading about for the beginners: the dangers of allowing sucking on animal parts. NEVER let them form any habit like that.
It's one of the reasons farmers use calf hutches: to separate them so they cannot suck.

Another reason for calf hutches is isolation. If one calf gets sick they are not together and the illness is more contained. Even when they are set right next to each other.

I've always had our calves separate. We had issues though of calves even after weaning sucking. The jerseys were the worst. Tried the no suck contraptions and besides the fact that I hated them, they didn't work.

 

[m.holloway]

Thats a fact. I still find sara-lu sucking on reba sometimes and thought about it. And they are 16 months. Yes farmer kitty, reba with the leg prolbem, As soon as it's day light I'll look for what you said. And yes it has to be on a weekend. Where are the vets than???Sara-lu even does it when I even put the fly stuff on her. I thought it would taste bad. But when I got them at 7 month, I was learning so much other stuff that I didn't notice that. But now that I have more hands on them I notice reba teats are sometimes winkley. Weird Cows.

 

[dfunnyfarm]

How do you transion from the bottle to the pail?