I know how to raise dairy calves! I know the inside, outside and downside of a dairy calf! I spent 30 of the best years of my life working with dairy calves! I had it down to a science! The year E Coli hit my calves, I lost seven in 24 hrs. I worked night and day with the vet to figure out what was going on. After we finally figured out the water was contaminated, (or rather the water heater in the calf barn was the culprit) we fixed the problem and the calves flourished! I could write a book on how to raise dairy calves!
I'm not bragging! Now that I am working with beef calves, nothing in my book is working!
In my naivety, I figured beef calves would get taken care of by their mommas so I wouldn't need any calf supplies. We sold everything I had acquired in the past 30 years. My first big mistake!!
My second mistake is thinking that beef calves have a hardy constitution. They are much easier to raise than dairy calves.
We had a preemie dairy calf one time, that started life beside the woodstove, drinking out of a baby bottle. We finally had to move her to the back porch then on to the calf barn. Our first preemie beef calf lasted about two weeks. I even made him a custom sized calf coat. I thought that would make him feel pretty special, but he died anyway.
We did raise a calf last summer, his mother had twins. She just couldn't handle two babies at the same time. One would always be with her and the other would be laying half a mile away in the sage. We were afraid a coyote would get him so we brought him to the barn and bottle fed him till he was about 5 months old. We named him Samson but the name doesn't fit. We still have him, he is several months older than the calves he is penned up with, but he is also the smallest.
We were since advised by several area ranchers to take one calf when twins are born.
It helps the mother bounce back easier and she isn't stressed trying to make enough milk for two. So far this year we have had 5 sets of twins. The first set was born dead. I haven't been very successful at keeping the other four calves healthy. each one has gotten sick, one died and two I nursed back to health but it wasn't by the book at all!! We had two ranchers call for graft calves so we got rid of them. The last one is still here. I am still trying to decide if he is demented or just dumb!
He has been drinking from a bottle about as good as any other calf. When I went out to feed him this morning, he just chewed on the nipple. I stuck my fingers in his mouth but he wouldn't suck on them either. How can a calf lose his sucking instinct overnight? I worked with him for 10 -15 minutes, long enough for my blood pressure to rise!! The longer I worked the worse he got, finally he bucked the bottle out of my hand, and it flew across the pen. "Fine, Starve" I didn't bop him on the head, but I did slam the barn door...several times!
About an hour later I went back out and tried again...with no success. This time I wanted to dump the milk over his head, hoping some of it would seep into his brain, but I didn't! Another hour passed, by this time it was 16 hours since he had eaten. He still chewed the nipple. I remember I had a goat nipple from the preemie calf...maybe that would work. I changed nipples and the little calf drank, he must think he is a goat. I KNOW he's a goat!!!
Hopefully we have reached a milestone and he will keep on drinking like a normal calf.
I love calves, I really do! I just don't want any more twins!
I love seeing the calves running on the hillside with their mothers watching from a distance! That's the best and easiest way to raise a beef calf!!
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