# Calf not growing?



## mamahen (May 11, 2002)

The calf we bought back in Sept. 06 just doesn't seem to be growing to quickly. She's a Hereford cross. 

We bought her at approx. 2 months old. Her momma didn't have much milk & she wasn't growing like the farmer would like. She was a little girl, probably around 100 lb. Momma was a solid red, long cow. THis was her 2nd calf. Momma was a big girl. Dad was the Hereford, but a young fella, not huge in size, yet.

We brought her home, bucket fed her (50 bag of premium replacer, all milk, no soy), Clalf Manna & 16% Dairy, grass hay & water. 

Now she gets Calf Manna, 3 lbs a day, grass hay & fresh water. She's either stalled, or staked, when outside.

She did get longer, and slighty taller. She's never scoured, never been sick. Eats & drinks heartily. She is about 8 months old & probably around 400 lbs., probably just a little less.

This was to be our first Brood-cow. To be AI'd in Oct.-Nov. DH says if she doesn't grow by then, she's burger. :shrug: 

I don't have any pics here, but could post one later tonight, or tomorrow.

Any insight?


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## bqz (Jan 26, 2007)

Why is she staked or stalled ,is it possible for her to freely graze?
Maybe if she could graze on her own she might get bigger ??



> "To be AI'd in Oct.-Nov. "


I'm certainly no expert here but would it be a litttle soon to breed her?
I'm under the impression that it's best to wait near two years before breeding ,but again I'm no expert.It seems it would be a liitle hard for a cow that young to calf.Not sure ,just my thoughts.


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## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

Has she been wormed? By being staked, do you feel she is getting 3% of her body weight in daily feed intake? Does she have "freechoice" minerals? Does she have 24/7 access to fresh, clean water? Just some suggestions.


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## bumpus (Jul 30, 2003)

.
She needs to go bye bye, or cook her.

Not worth breading because she will pass on her smallness.

.


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## mamahen (May 11, 2002)

She was stalled, because we had 2 feet of snow & they could walk over the fences :shrug: , snow is now gone, and so are the fence posts. It was so soft, where it usually isn't, the posts were knocked over. Right now we're under a flood warning & the ground is just a giant sponge. No dry spot in the field. She's at least dry in the barn.

She gets as much hay as she can eat. Usually half a bale a day. All the water she wants.

Yes she has a mineral block, hasn't been wormed since Sept. That is next on the list. Everyone in the barn is due this month.

We were told to breed her at approx. 15 months to have her calve at 24 months. Right or wrong? :shrug: 

I'm wondering if there isn't some Dexter or Jersey blood in her line somewhere. Momma came from the auction as a calf. No history on her genetics.


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## jerzeygurl (Jan 21, 2005)

yes we breed to calve at 2 years old, (hopefully, sometims things happend :grump: )

breed her to something small, she may be a late bloomer, I wouldnt expect full size until 2 years old.


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

Is her head disproportionate in size to her body?


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## mamahen (May 11, 2002)

No, cute little head, to match her cute little body. She seems to be getting leggier, maybe it's just wishful thinking! :shrug:


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

Then with the cute little head she is not a dwarf. Maybe she has a different dad than the hereford! Maybe a dna test is in order.  My best brood cows are 1050 to 1100 lb easy keepers.


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## Sunraven (Jan 20, 2007)

I would wait and see, or at least fatten her up before I'd butcher her. We breed our (Holstein) heifers at fifteen months and approximately 700#. Not sure what is in Calf Manna, or much about the feeding of beef cattle, but we feed our heifers 5# of the ration we mix a day, and the new company we're getting our premix from says 9# a day, so I've been trying to be somewhere in between. I want them to grow I don't want to make them fat! Now, our steers, I feed a shell corn/pellet (high protein) mix and I feed them up to full feed (increasing their ration a bit at a time) and then turn them out in lots with free choice feeders. I want those fellas fat. 
Me, I would increase her grain a bit and find her some nice alfalfa hay. Not sure if any of this helps you or not, like I said, I deal with Holsteins.


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## sammyd (Mar 11, 2007)

If it's got a cute little head you probably have some Jersey in there.
I have a Jersey/Holstein that weighed about 430 at 6 months with good pasture and grain so I don't think you're not far off if there is some Jersey in her.


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## mamahen (May 11, 2002)

Ok the first 2 pics are the first week we had her.




















These 2 were taken yesterday. Of course before my son did his stall cleaning  



















She's standing awkward in all four pictuures, go figure!! :shrug: She is nice & straight, just bad picture taking!


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

There is nothing wrong with that calf. Notice how high her belly is from the ground. Just give her time. You are doing a good job of raising her. She will not disappoint.


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## bumpus (Jul 30, 2003)

. 
You should mix some ground corn in with the calf mana.

.


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## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

I have tried using calfmanna in the past. If I remember correctly, it's about 20% protein as well as fat. You may want to get some plain sweet feed and give it a try. Calfmanna was pretty expensive back when I tried it and didn't have much luck in trying to grow a calf on it. I use it on my bottle calves when weining them off milk, but only in the transitioning process. I've found a lot better weight gain off of corn based products.


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## devdragon33 (Mar 8, 2007)

I think you will be happy with her when you are done. We have been feeding sweet feed and corn mixture to our cow and he is doing good. Try that instead of the calf manna (we stopped feeding that- didnt really care for it). If you are not happy with her size later let me know and I will take her


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## jerzeygurl (Jan 21, 2005)

we have a custom mix made up of corn oats soymeal cottonseed meal and molassas. all ours have been doing well on it.


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## JulieLou42 (Mar 28, 2005)

My calves never get anything more than their hay and COB with alfalfa pellets, and they do just fine, on their mother
. At present, 8 mo. old 1/2 Jersey, 3/8 Guernsey, 1/8 Angus steer is about 770#. His weight gain went down over the past two months, but with warmer weather on us now, he'll probably go back up and be about 1000# in 2.5 months, when we'll make tablefare of him...that's if he goes back up to 3# per day.


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