# Raising an Orphan Calf



## SapphireFarms (Apr 13, 2017)

Ok....well...my first post.

We have a 20 acre farm in SW Saskatchewan. Raise chickens and have the usual dogs/cats and a couple horses. BUT...we have an opportunity to get an orphaned calf (a twin that the mother is not taking to).

So this is what my understanding is...... start at 1.25lb/day of milk replacer (into about 4 quarts of water - but split between two feedings - 2 quarts each bottle feeding). As well...start offering calf starter ration...even just a touch by hand...and work up to 1.5lb/day for at least 3 days by about the end of week 3 of offering it...about day 21. 

At this time, once the calf is taking 1.5lb/day of calf starter...we can axe the milk replacer and offer grain ration on top of the grass/pasture and alfalfa hay. We will be offering the hay and grass as soon as we get the calf. As well as iodized salt block and fresh water of course.

My big question is...what is classified as a "high protein grain ration"?? No corn around...so options are probably oats (I'm guessing that'll be best as its not too starchy and has good fiber)....but is there a mix I should be looking at? My neighbour has said he'd be willing to sell some grain to us as well as roll/grind it a touch to make it easier to digest for the calf. 

What should I be looking at to make up my grain ration? Most of what I've said also lists about 5lb/day of grain for 12 weeks after its weaned....does that sound right??

Thanks!!!


----------



## ShannonR (Nov 28, 2012)

3 weeks to me seems like being in an awful hurry to take them off milk replacer. I know the stuff aint cheap, but I always left my calves on milk replacer for about twice that time. Some I bottle fed for 2 months or a little longer, even.

There should be instructions as far as amount and when to wean on the bag of milk replacer, too. It's been a few years since my last bottle calves, sorry I can't be more specific.

Not sure about the high protien grain ration either, as many grains have a rather low content. I think corn is 8% protien max, just to give you a ballpark idea... I'm not sure about oats. Maybe something with soy in it?


----------



## ufo_chris (Apr 30, 2010)

I think 6 weeks is the bare minimum on milk replacer better 8 and some people do it longer if only to use up that bag. If you look on the bags in feed stores they have a calf starter and then calf grower and then finisher and it will say what the ages are.
Also don't use just a salt block ,I don't know where you're at but most places are selenium deficient and loose minerals is what you want and ask around Vets or local Farmers should know if your selenium deficient and get one that has selenium in it or just ask at your local Feed Mill.


----------



## ufo_chris (Apr 30, 2010)

Forgot, if you have the time it's better to split the Four quarts a day into three feedings, it's better for their tummies


----------



## G. Seddon (May 16, 2005)

One of the best milk replacers is Land o' Lakes Cows Match (28% protein, 20% fat). Hope the calf has received colostrum, very important.


----------



## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

There is a ton of info at the top of this Cattle section, look for Sale Barn calves or something like that. I understand that this calf wasn't through a sale barn, but a lot applies.
Get the stuff you need for scours. When/if it hits, you won't have days to wait for a trip to town. Electrolytes, too. The learning curve on bottle calves is steep.
You understand that twin calves are often sterile? Google Free Martin.
BTW, are we talking about a Holstein, Jersey or Angus? Bull or heifer? Future plans, milk, breed, BBQ grill?


----------



## ShannonR (Nov 28, 2012)

SapphireFarms said:


> Ok....well...my first post.
> 
> We have a 20 acre farm in SW Saskatchewan. Raise chickens and have the usual dogs/cats and a couple horses. BUT...we have an opportunity to get an orphaned calf (a twin that the mother is not taking to).
> 
> ...


Just real quick: Can I ask where you got this information? A lot of it just seems so....off from my experiences. Maybe I've just been doing it the wrong way though, hard to say!


----------



## SapphireFarms (Apr 13, 2017)

ShannonR said:


> 3 weeks to me seems like being in an awful hurry to take them off milk replacer. I know the stuff aint cheap, but I always left my calves on milk replacer for about twice that time. Some I bottle fed for 2 months or a little longer, even.
> 
> There should be instructions as far as amount and when to wean on the bag of milk replacer, too. It's been a few years since my last bottle calves, sorry I can't be more specific.
> 
> Not sure about the high protien grain ration either, as many grains have a rather low content. I think corn is 8% protien max, just to give you a ballpark idea... I'm not sure about oats. Maybe something with soy in it?


If you start on calf starter and are using milk replacer, the calf should be worked up to about 1.5#/day by about day 21 and this gets the rumen development initialized and working enough to remove from milk replacer. If there is part of a bag left, some people use up the remainder of the bag...but the 21 day guideline is all over as far as rumen development. 

Oats is about 12% I am hoping to use raw oats and avoid buying a premix.


----------



## SapphireFarms (Apr 13, 2017)

ufo_chris said:


> I think 6 weeks is the bare minimum on milk replacer better 8 and some people do it longer if only to use up that bag. If you look on the bags in feed stores they have a calf starter and then calf grower and then finisher and it will say what the ages are.
> Also don't use just a salt block ,I don't know where you're at but most places are selenium deficient and loose minerals is what you want and ask around Vets or local Farmers should know if your selenium deficient and get one that has selenium in it or just ask at your local Feed Mill.


3 weeks minimum...if the bag lasts into 4 or 5 weeks, I will just use it up...no point letting it sit if its there. And calf starter has selenium added...it is not advisable to add additional selenium until its off calf starter...then the salt block will be replaced with a selenium salt block.


----------



## SapphireFarms (Apr 13, 2017)

G. Seddon said:


> One of the best milk replacers is Land o' Lakes Cows Match (28% protein, 20% fat). Hope the calf has received colostrum, very important.


Yes, its a couple days old...mother is feeding both fine...farmer just doesn't want the hassle of having both. lol


----------



## SapphireFarms (Apr 13, 2017)

haypoint said:


> There is a ton of info at the top of this Cattle section, look for Sale Barn calves or something like that. I understand that this calf wasn't through a sale barn, but a lot applies.
> Get the stuff you need for scours. When/if it hits, you won't have days to wait for a trip to town. Electrolytes, too. The learning curve on bottle calves is steep.
> You understand that twin calves are often sterile? Google Free Martin.
> BTW, are we talking about a Holstein, Jersey or Angus? Bull or heifer? Future plans, milk, breed, BBQ grill?


I read that entire thread before I posted...BTW.

I have never heard that female of male/female twin calves are usually sterile...Hmmm.

Angus/Hereford cross. Either breed or butcher. Depends if we pick up the steer or heifer calf.


----------



## SapphireFarms (Apr 13, 2017)

ShannonR said:


> Just real quick: Can I ask where you got this information? A lot of it just seems so....off from my experiences. Maybe I've just been doing it the wrong way though, hard to say!


Off how...everything I've read and the local nutrition feed shop have all said the same thing...3 weeks minimum...1.5#/day as a goal to move off milk replacer to grain and pasture/hay. Can you elaborate what you think is "so off"??


----------



## Jlynnp (Sep 9, 2014)

I always keep them on milk replacer for 8 weeks, longer if I have replacer left. And yes it is quite normal for the female of a set of male/female twins to be sterile, they are called freemartins. I have gotten a couple from farmers who just don't want the hassle of a sterile heifer. As for feed I use a calf starter/grower from my local co-op.


----------



## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

Glad you saw that treasure chest of solid information on keeping calves alive, sale barn calves. Should be required reading for first timers. Remember, we all were first timers, once upon a time.
You and I live in areas where a lot of oats are grown. Cattle are way better at digesting things than say pigs or horses. Whole oats mostly go right through horses. I'm sure cattle digest oats better than horses. But, I cannot tell you one way or the other how well a calf might be able to digest whole oats. Steamed, rolled or at least crimped, I'm sure they'd eventually be able to handle.

I see you are a forward thinker. Planning the days until he's on hay and oats, when you haven't got him home or fed him for the first time. Most of us narrow minded, pay check to pay check, takin' it a day at a time folks are often just scrambling to keep an orphaned calf alive, hopeful that the next sun rise shines on a still alive calf.

Looks like your choices of breed or butcher may already be decided. A steer or freemartin heifer all end up in the freezer.


----------



## ShannonR (Nov 28, 2012)

SapphireFarms said:


> 3 weeks minimum...if the bag lasts into 4 or 5 weeks, I will just use it up...no point letting it sit if its there. And calf starter has selenium added...it is not advisable to add additional selenium until its off calf starter...then the salt block will be replaced with a selenium salt block.


Please....forgive me, in advance. I don't mean to be rude, and am very seldom this harsh on anyone!!

I hope, for this calf's sake, that you pass on bottle feeding it. Your research is incorrect, you come on here asking for other people's advice, and then slam the various people here who are telling you it would be best to do things differently.

Are you here to get advice, or to argue your information with everyone here? I just don't get people sometimes.....

Please, don't come whining to me when your calf has a myriad of health issues because you don't want to listen to advice (which I was under the impression you came here asking for).

Stepping off my soapbox now. My apologies, again.


----------



## Hiro (Feb 14, 2016)

Heifer/bull calf twins usually have the heifer of the pair sterile, as Haypoint noted. Not always, but without an experienced examination I would count on it the heifer being a freemartin. There isn't much documentation and I don't have personal experience with the bull of twins being sterile as twins seldom develop into breeding stock worth the time and investment to know. 

Don't put pen to paper on the how many bags of milk replacer and how long to feed it. Some calves take to feed quicker than others. The last thing you want to do is spend time and effort bottle feeding, then lose it trying to force wean it too early. It takes experience to know and monitor that. So the first one, I would err on weaning later rather than sooner.

I can't say what is best for you, but we have taken to giving antibiotics prophylacticly to bottle calves for a couple of weeks in the beginning.


----------



## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

Not at all like raising a puppy. There are a lot of calves that die. But there are people that make it their life's work to be good at it and they make a fair living raising bottle calves. Many of Michigan's 5000 to 20,000 cow dairies do not raise any calves. All the calves go to Monday's auction, 7 days old or 1 day old. Onto a trailer and off at auction, herded around there half the day and back onto a trailer. Some hauled 20 miles away, others hauled 800 miles away. They know which ones to bid on and which ones to leave and have an amazing survival percentage. But you don't get good at it from reading the label on a bag of milk replacer at the feed store. Sometimes it takes a $40 calf with a $200 Vet bill to die on your lap, because you thought a calf could get over a case of runny stool.


----------



## Allen W (Aug 2, 2008)

If, and that is a big IF, some one has a program to feed calves only 3 weeks and then go to solid feed i guarantee you they aren't feeding oats.

i have a bottle calf here, he'll be a week old tomorrow. I figure by the time I get him through till fall I'll have $150 to $200 in bought feed in him, maybe more. that's not including any hay. Can you do it cheaper, yes you can but the calf won't compare to his age group raised on the cow.


----------



## SapphireFarms (Apr 13, 2017)

ShannonR said:


> Please....forgive me, in advance. I don't mean to be rude, and am very seldom this harsh on anyone!!
> 
> I hope, for this calf's sake, that you pass on bottle feeding it. Your research is incorrect, you come on here asking for other people's advice, and then slam the various people here who are telling you it would be best to do things differently.
> 
> ...


So...what is your wisdom?? My research is incorrect...correct me. Teach me. Here's your opportunity...I am specifically listening to you.


----------



## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

SapphireFarms said:


> Yes, its a couple days old...mother is feeding both fine...farmer just doesn't want the hassle of having both. lol


This comment tells me that something is not quite right with the story. I've raised cattle for many years and there is absolutely no hassle (except for an extra cheque at shipping time) to keeping a calf that the cow is feeding fine. 

You've done a fair bit of homework but it also doesn't compare to practical experience and I'd be curious what research you've done on nipple confusion. If this calf has been on the cow, up until the day you pick it up, convincing it that a bottle and hard nipple are just like mom is more than a bit optimistic and you're in for some fun. 

I always try to keep my bottle calves on the same general course that mother nature does rather than following the instructions on the milk replacer bag. I use the same daily ration but spread it out through the day, I don't rush them on to feed but make it available and let the calf decide when it's more interested in grass than milk replacer and during the transition period, I provide a pan of frosted flakes.


----------



## ufo_chris (Apr 30, 2010)

SapphireFarms said:


> So...what is your wisdom?? My research is incorrect...correct me. Teach me. Here's your opportunity...I am specifically listening to you.


We were trying to tell u that 3 weeks on milk replacer is not enough.


----------



## Allen W (Aug 2, 2008)

SapphireFarms said:


> So...what is your wisdom?? My research is incorrect...correct me. Teach me. Here's your opportunity...I am specifically listening to you.


You've misread or misinterpreted something, 3 weeks is normally where they are eating enough starter feed you can cut back to a single feeding per day not totally wean them from the milk. Calves are usually fed milk 6 to 12 weeks before weaning. Also starter feed is from 18% to 22% protein depending on preference and source, much higher protein then you can achieve just feeding grain. The better start you give a baby calf the better he will do his entire life.


----------



## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

There has been a lot of good advice given here, but out of concern and the seriousness of the topic, some advice comes across as argumentative. Over all, I think the OP has taken it well.

A lot of this makes no sense, so we draw all sorts of conclusions. Reading between the lines saves time, but results in false assumptions, too.

It doesn't make sense to wean a calf in a few weeks, sell a healthy beef calf twin, feed oats instead of calf starter, that the farmer offered the calf, but didn't mention freemartin.

Being puzzled, 'cause nothing makes sense, when we want to help turns to frustration and that frustration bubbles out as criticism. 

This is the perfect time of the year to get a calf. Keep an eye out for yellow diarrhea, scours and listen for any cough or lung congestion, pneumonia. 

Twice a day feeding is fine. Four times a day better and a tiny bit every hour, around the clock is great. What level of care you select is up to you. Over feeding is the number one killer of calves.


----------



## topside1 (Sep 23, 2005)

I'm entering the game in the ninth inning, but would like to recommend a 16-18% calf starter for your new calf. It's a higher crude protein, vitamins, minerals and has a sweet yummy flavor verses dry oats. Protein is the name of the game for young calf muscle development. The calves that I've raised will eat very little grain until they are 3 weeks old. Even after three weeks old the amount they eat is negligible but increasing. My two cents from Tennessee


----------



## SapphireFarms (Apr 13, 2017)

I just want to clarify something...I never said not to feed calf starter. I have a bag in the barn already. Once the rumen development has developed enough... Usually at 21 days after calf starter was begun to be introduced... And is eating at least 1.25#/day... You can go from using calf starter to a grain mix... My calf starter is 18%. I was subduing at 4 weeks after feeding it started... Which what it says ON THE BAG... go to a grain mix. All the while having offered hay and pasture since day 1. I wanted a definition of what this grain mix would consist of. No one here addressed that question at all.

I have since went into town and spoken with a livestock feed specialist. He said that the grain after week 4 or so (of feeding it...not age of calf... Like I said)... Should be between 14-16%. So a pre mix is still best. That was the answer I was looking to find. 

You all can read whatever you want into anything... That's fine. I appreciate all the genuine help and for those who didn't... Have a nice day.

I have a game plan... And after taking to the feed specialist I am on the right track. He suggested... Like s lot if you...6 weeks not three if milk replacer... Essentially use an entire bag per calf but there is no need to go longer if it's taking solids and calf starter etc and the rumen development is good. I have milestones to hit the calf to track progress and that tells me when to move to next step.


----------



## SapphireFarms (Apr 13, 2017)

And sorry... Typing on my phone so there are a few typos in my previous response.


----------



## topside1 (Sep 23, 2005)

I feed the same calf starter/grower for 6 months often even longer. It makes a huge difference when filling your freezer and for the health of the animal....Game plan on, have fun.


----------



## Allen W (Aug 2, 2008)

There is no one answer to all of your questions, every company has different recommendations for their feed and everyone has a different way of feeding calves. Consider your overall ration, the grain, the pasture and what else your feeding.


----------



## SapphireFarms (Apr 13, 2017)

topside1 said:


> I feed the same calf starter/grower for 6 months often even longer. It makes a huge difference when filling your freezer and for the health of the animal....Game plan on, have fun.


Past two or three months etc... How much are you feeding a day? Curious.


----------



## topside1 (Sep 23, 2005)

Calves will consume approximately 1.6 lbs Calf Starter 18% per 100 lbs of body weight. Which is 1.6% of live body weight. I'm nowhere near that scientific, just common sense amounts makes for a healthy calf. The starter bag will have generic feeding directions/amount printed on the sewn tag....Have fun and don't overfeed. Topside


----------



## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

Please share your experiences with your new calf. As you learn, others can learn from your experiences.


----------



## soniaramberger (Apr 8, 2017)

So true Mr. Haypoint...I still remember those nights wondering if my calves were going to make it. I am hoping to have past that phase...I wouldn't consider my self victorious as of yet. I am still searching for a vet for castration. Thanks for the advice.


----------



## Hiro (Feb 14, 2016)

soniaramberger said:


> So true Mr. Haypoint...I still remember those nights wondering if my calves were going to make it. I am hoping to have past that phase...I wouldn't consider my self victorious as of yet. I am still searching for a vet for castration. Thanks for the advice.


https://www.jefferspet.com/products/tri-band-bander-1

You don't need a vet for calf castration. They are more likely to overcomplicate it. Just make sure the band is high up as you can get it and both testicles are well below the band. If you get them early, they don't even feel it (from their behavior, I haven't tried it personally).


----------



## topside1 (Sep 23, 2005)

I band bottle calves at 21 days of age, just wanted to throw that out there...Topside


----------



## TripleD (Feb 12, 2011)

Listen to topside. He wont steer you wrong. I have had the privilege to speak with him on the phone several times. He hasn't steered me wrong yet....


----------

