Getting new calves tommorow- Help!

[InHisName]

This is our first experience with calves- going to a dairy tomorrow to pick up a pair. It is a 3 hour drive- are planning to put them in our garage over night. (in a dog kennel with straw on the ground) It is cold here, often below zero- do they need heat? Should they be moved outside soon? We will have to build something for them- there is still 2 feet of snow on the ground. Can anyone advise on raising these calves? We are armed with a Storeys guide to raising your calf (for children) and that is about it. Will pick up milk replacer and whatever we need tomorrow. Thanks! Teri

[brouwer]

I raise many dairy calves from bottle. Let me know if you have any questions and I will try my best to answer. You are welcome to pm me also.

I would leave them in the garage or a very sheltered area. They don't necessarily need heat but they cannot handle any drafts or dampness. Make sure their bedding is always dry and lots of it. When picking up your milk replacer I would make sure that it is not a soy or vegetable base - I have way to many problems with that. With the cold I would also make sure it is 20/20. (20% protein - 20% fat). They need the fat to help with the cold. I would also give them an extra feeding when it gets extremely cold.

[Muskrat]

Is your transport enclosed?

They need to be protected. The timing doesn't seem to be good. 2 feet of snow on the ground and no containment prepared will make caring for them more problematic.

I've never attempted to keep a young calf under those conditions, but having the two of them together should help. I'd give them lots of hay to burrow in at least.

My Highlands would be fine; I wouldn't do it with my Guernseys.

[travlnusa]

The drive home worries me. As others have said drafts, or in the case wind, will cause havoc with them.

As far as winter and cold without drafts go, no problem. Winter is my favorite time of year to raise bottle calves. No flies, pens easy to clean, etc. A much better way to raise them

In the morning go and buy 6 sheets of 1/2 plywood. Three for each calf. For each pen, cut one sheet of plywood in half so it is 4x4. Take the two whole sheets and use them as the left and right walls. Use one 4x4 for the back wall, and the other as a roof for the back half. Use just about anything for the front gate or fence.

We feed 2 qts milk replacer in morning, afternoon, and evening for 4 weeks, then twice per day for a week, once per day for a week. That will use up one 50 lbs bag of milk replacer. After each feeding, take a hand full of the starter feed you will buy and shove a handfull of it in their mouth. Keep a bucket of it in the pen with them.

Have each pen face south with LOTS of straw in it. Pick out the manure each day. Easy to do as it is frozen.

DO NOT save money on milk replacer. I buy the best I can get, about $50 for a 50 lb bag. With two calves you will go though two bags.

I band the bull calves once both have dropped down.

Good luck and ask away.

[InHisName]

Thank you for the help! As far as the ride goes, hubbys truck has a canopy. We are also getting a couple of pigs at the same time and partitioning them off from the calves. You mentioned having grain in their pen. At what age do they need a bucket of water?

[Rocky Fields]

Hey.

Replicate the conditions they have been kept up until now...same temp, same feeding pattern, etc.

[tyusclan]

Keep water available to them.

[unioncreek]

If you can get a large dog carrier that's the easiest way to transport weiner pigs. Just keep them out of the wind and in a sheltered area. Their talking about it warming up to the low 40's on the east side of Washington. Where are you getting the calves from. I live in southeastern Washington, work in Pullman?
What did yo have to give for the calves? WSU sells them for $100 and their well taken care of before you get them.

Bobg

[brouwer]

Just wondering if you got your calves and how it is going?

[InHisName]

Got the calves for $50 each- called the Grant Co extention office, and through a chain of phone calls, a dairyman in Ephrata. He said the cost of calves would be going up. They were at the most 24 hours old, had 1 gallon of colostrum. So far so good, fed them last night (thank you, Brouwer, for the milk replacement info- got the 20/20). Put a heat lamp on them,as that's how we got them, and lots of straw. Question- what kind of starter grain for the calves? We only have Purina manna pro (think thats right) - a supplement for calves- at our feed store. Will that work? Have to get it today.
Thanks!

[Ken Scharabok]

Ask at the feed supplier for calf grower. Forumulated to be on the sweet side.

Best book I know of for the novice calf grower is Raising a Calf for Beef by Phyllis Hobson. It is a Garden Way Book.