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Brute 23

Brute 23

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... a bottle calf. Found mom dead and he came walking up. Kind of odd because he must have milked some before she died. He was weak but moving. Gave him colostrum with in an hour or so and for the next 2 days.

Hes about a week old now and doing good but I have a couple specific questions.

He gets a 2qt bottle morning and evening of milk replacer. Hes had fresh water since the beginning and I started putting a handful of some kind of calf feed in a day. Cant tell if hes actually eating it but its pellets and it end up kind of crushed up by the end of the day.

Yesterday I gave him 2 bottles of electrolytes. His poop was a little runny prior but didnt look like full on scours. Did it as a precaution.

He seems like he would definitely drink another bottle or so thru out the day. He sucked down the 2 bottles of electrolytes plus the 2 bottles of milk no problem. He is a fairly decent size F1 Brahman x Angus bull calf.

Should I ease him in to another partial bottle of milk mid day or use his hunger to help get him started on the feed?

When would be a good time to give him any vaccinations? What would you give? Also, when should I castrate him?

Next, I'd like to halter break him. I ordered a halter online. I've been taking a rope and making a halter out of it while hes feeding and just rubbing it around on him, throwing the tail around on his legs, back, head, etc but haven't put any pressure against it yet. What's the best way to start that process? Should I tie him to feed him the bottle?
 
I've always done 2 bottles a day. Mainly because I cant do 3 due to schedule.

Mine have all done well.

Tetanus if u castrate.

I've never fully halter broke one. Well, the one I did, went back to its owners. Long story but she is gone now.
 
Likely buy an older Holstein that is still milking on two for the same money as the milk replacer will cost by weaning. Then you first get the joy of breaking her to be a nurse cow and then enjoy hamburgers on the Barby.
 
If he seems to get weak, then another partial bottle would maybe help. But I only feed 2 a day, and the hunger will get them to start nosing around for other stuff. I suspect that he might be nosing the feed already. But a week old is early for them to really want more than milk. I see the best "curiousity " for other feed between 2-3 weeks. Dairies will start putting a little bit of feed in their mouths at 3-4 days old..... a small handful so they get the taste and feel of the feed. Be careful giving electrolytes and replacer.... you can actually cause them to scour a bit with too much liquid all at once. If the energy level is good then don't give the electrolytes. It does nothing to prevent scours... it only helps to rehydrate WHEN they get them. Coccidiosis can be a problem in calves, it will show up at 1-3 weeks usually... they get scoury and weak REAL QUICK. It is easily taken care of with some corid given to the calf.... some will take it in the milk... we use a syringe directly down their throat. Often there will be some blood in the manure but not always.

Vaccinate for blackleg after 2 weeks since you are not sure of how much immunity he got from the colostrum. It is "killed" so should not cause any reaction. We normally don't do it until 6-10 weeks if they are on their momma. If you band now, as a baby, then just band him. We don't give any tetanus or anything to the little ones. Use tetanus faithfully after 8-10 weeks as a precaution.... cheap insurance.
There are many different MLV available for calves, we don't use any. We use a killed virus - Triangle 10-HB - for anything we are keeping after weaning.... and we, KNOCK ON WOOD, don't have respiratory or other problems in the calves as a rule so don't do alot of vaccinating. Others do a pretty strict regimen.
 
The one day I gave the 2 bottles of electrolytes I gave it 2 hrs after his normal milk bottle.

The next day I gave just one bottle of electrolytes mid day, aprox 5-6 hours between his milk feedings.

Should I go ahead and give some batches of corid with his milk or wait and see what happens?

I haven't had good luck with bottle calves in the past. I always seemed to be 2 steps behind.
 
2 quarts twice a day is really the minimum for raising a calf. Most dairies are now feeding 6 quarts, and some feed more. The calves on the higher plane of nutrition grow faster, stay healthier, and end up being more productive into adulthood.

I don't recommend any injectable vaccines in the first 12 weeks. It sets their growth back for a couple days and they're not likely to get much out of them anyway. Inforce/nasalgen/PMH as early as possible is a good idea.

No need to put corid in his milk at a week old. It's not biologically possible for calves to be scouring from coccidia at that age; the bug's life cycle takes too long. If your milk replacer says it's medicated, the medication is a coccidiostat and treatment isn't necessary then, either.
 
I used to be the calf guy for our dairy, and we always took them off the cow after 1 or at most two days. From there they went into an individual calf hut. Most important thing was always to get as much colostrum into them as they would take in the first 24 hours, and the sooner the better. Calf can only absorb those antibodies in that first 24 hours, after that the antibody absorption system closes off to protect the calf from bugs in the environment, which is why it's important to drop them in a CLEAN environment. That absorption ability starts shutting down gradually almost as soon as they hit the ground.

This is God's design for a "vaccination system" for that newborn. Think of it this way... if they get the colostrum within an hour, they can absorb the antibodies at a 90% efficiency rate, and there is a "rejection rate" of environmental risks of 10%... 3 hours, maybe 80/20, 6 hours, maybe 50/50. 12 hours, maybe only like 25/75, and after 24 hours, you're pretty much done having much immunity pass from the cow to the calf through the milk. The cow over her lifetime on the farm has been exposed to the environment that the calf is going to be born into, and has developed antibodies for that specific environment, which is different for every farm, literally, and is constantly changing... but right up to that moment of birth, she's been making those antibodies as the exposures occur, and she's going to pass them along in her colostrum. Those antibodies are at their highest rate right as that cow calves and in her "first milk" following calving, and drops off in her milk about as fast as the calf's ability to absorb them does. Move that calf as a day old from one farm to another, and he may not have all of the right antibodies for what is in the environment at that new farm... and he's much more likely to "get sick" then than if he was left at the farm he was born on. The longer they can stay there to build strength and size and vigor and become exposed to "more challenges" gradually over their young life, the better, no question about it.

Yes on the good quality milk replacer with no soy. 2 qts. of milk morning and night is enough. We had Holsteins, so large calves. We never gave them more than 2 qts. morning and night. Yes, expect them to "leave the milk" still hungry, which will prompt them to move to the hay and calf starter. Yes, we'd put calf starter in their mouth as soon as we took them off the cow, every time when as soon as we got done feeding the milk, for like the first week, or till they started consuming starter. That gives them the taste of it, and gets them chewing, rather than wanting to suck on anything and everything that they can get their mouth on. Within a week or so, they were on their own usually. They just kind of go for it mostly out of boredom at first, but by about 2-3 weeks, they're starting to take it pretty good for feed. Keep it fresh in front of them during the initial period, and feed what they have nosed around in to your OLDEST calves (that have already built up plenty of immunity to anything that might be spread communicably).

I'd castrate either right away by banding, or wait till after they are older... either way is fine IMO, but if you do it older, as has been said, give them a tetanus shot.

We initially had a fence around the front of the calf huts for them to get outside in. Muddy mess, hard to work with and maintain. Eventually, I just drove a T post in the corner, spread out the huts somewhat farther, and put a chain on it and clipped on around their neck. Yup... they'd fight with it for a day or two, and then give up. We kept them in the calf huts till they were 2 -2 1/2 months old. When I took them down to the barn after that (about an 800' walk), they were already halterbroke, and that "training" pretty much remained with them till we sold them as cull cows. VERY NICE!

I did the same when I was breaking young horses. Tie them to the post and let them fight it out there. No need for them to associate a bad experience with me... never had it where it didn't work, EXCEPT on a mule that I "broke" once. After that, I don't have a need to work with one of them again!
 
Horses, calves, dogs,. anything.....,,people feed once a day because that may be the only time they have. Feeding twice a day is so much better. Only thing better than twice a day is 4 times a day. 6 times is better than that, etc. So, feed that calf 3 times a day, or 4, if you can.
 
Yup... if you've got the time to mess with 'em more often, go for it. A calf will nurse about every half hour or so when he's first born, but he won't take a whole lot each time. Filling them up with too much milk though will give 'em scours. Nature's way is best.

Did an experiment once on the dairy, just letting the calves run with the cow to get them off to a good start. Calved 'em in the pasture on summer grass (or in the woods more often than not). Cow would hide it, then come home with the herd. Might not see the calf till a few days later if he was hidden good. Sometimes the cow would come home with the herd to get milked, sometimes she wouldn't. Most of the time when that happened, we'd try to get her home or she might end up with mastitis (Holsteins milk a lot more than the calf could ever take...). By about 4 days old, the calf was always along with the herd... and for the next 2 weeks, it was quite a rodeo getting the cow with the calf in the barn if my trusty Border Collie was wanting to help... was better off tying him up by the house... ;) Usually I'd let them run along till about 2 weeks old and by then it was just getting to be too much trouble... momma cows getting ornery, etc. Usually the calf would come right through the milking parlor with her though, and would just stand there between the cows while we milked momma.

Healthiest calves we ever raised, no question about it! Good luck catching that calf at that point to get him away from Momma though! After I left the dairy, I expect that the rest of the crew there preferred more of a "prescription operation", where you just do what everybody else does...

Brute... those kind usually had quite a bit more fight and stubbornness built into 'em by that time to, when they'd get hung out on that neck chain! They might be tugging for like 3 days ... :mad:
 
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I may try slipping another small feeding in mid day. I have to finish up maybe one or two more feedings out of a smaller bag but I bought a big bag of no soy, medicated milk replacer.

Halter should be here first of next week so we will see. 🤞

Thanks for all the tips. We have a pretty cool vet now so I may run the calf over there in a week or so and let him do a look over and what not. He is really cattle friendly, too cheap IMO, so I try to throw as much as I can to him. This seems like a great project for him.

They are use to me bringing these knuckle headed Brahmans in with my kind of no nonsense attitude. They will get a kick out me leading a baby calf in. 😜
 
For scours, I always use the boluses. Time allows two bottles a day, so that's what I do with bucket calves. I've weaned them in as little as a month, most go two, but to avoid milk belly I've stretched feeding them one bottle a day for an extra month.

Sprinkle a small amount of powdered milk on the dry feed, and they'll take to it quicker. I like the Rural King Country Roads 18% textured starter the best, it's got so much molasses in it that it's sticky. They go to it quicker than anything I've found, including Purina, but you could add some molasses to another brand and would probably work as well. Don't care for the pelletized starter much.

You'll love breaking them. Nothing cuter than a calf doing the flop when they get enough of you pulling the lead!
 
RDFF said:
Just put your halter and lead on him and tie him to a post. In a week he'll be ready for his walk into the vet. They'll be even more impressed when you take him in for his 2 year checkup!

View attachment 3085
Click to expand...
That would be right up my alley. I'd have a cup holder instead of a saddle horn. 😂 Isn't there a western where the guy rides a big bull or some thing around?

My son and I are leaning toward calling the calf... "Dog". I just need him to start bucking and snorting at people on command.

Some friends of ours raised a Brahman bull calf and they use it like a horse to push roping steers and stuff. It's pretty neat to see.
 
Brute 23 said:
That would be right up my alley. I'd have a cup holder instead of a saddle horn. 😂 Isn't there a western where the guy rides a big bull or some thing around?

My son and I are leaning toward calling the calf... "Dog". I just need him to start bucking and snorting at people on command.

Some friends of ours raised a Brahman bull calf and they use it like a horse to push roping steers and stuff. It's pretty neat to see.
Click to expand...
I think it was the big guy named Mongo on Blazing Saddles that rode a brahman bull around.
 

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