Who Do You Love?

[Tango]

My current bottle calves:
This is Twistie. She's 24 hours old. Pure Charolais heifer born with a bull twin. Neighbor brought her over when mom rejected her. Kicked her rear leg out of place. Taking a pint of milk replacer at a time, if I am lucky will take a quart, but she does it hourly.



This is Bugle Boy. Neighbor brought him over Christmas week,totally dehydrated. Born blind and unable to nurse. Tubed him for 3 days before he was strong enough to suck. He's now 10 weeks old and is able to see well enough.


Fortune's mother died during calving. He is now 14 weeks and has a new home waiting.


This is an unamed Guernsey heifer calf I came across by coincidence. She doesn't need a bottle since she is already about 5 months old but I'm bottle feeding her to get her used to me. That is water on her back. It was raining the day of the photo.

[tnokie]

I like the white one. I just recently heard that a female twin is called a freemartin and will be sterile. Anyone know if this is always true?

[Tango]

It is generally true, probably mostly true. I just asked a similar question on a dariy cow forum yesterday. My question was are they always freemartins? I think the answer was somewhere around 90% and there may be a breed correlation. I've not checked the answer.

[lgslgs]

They are so pretty.

That little white Charolais freemartin would make a lovely Lady Ox for someone if she does turn out to be sterile.

We've got a freemartin working/riding/pet cow. We really like having cow power without having to deal with heat cycles and our girl has a very ladylike temperament.

FYI, our vet uses the 90% figure for likelihood of sterility.

Lynda

[Tango]

Hadn't considered Lady Ox type employment. It would be great to get her into that type of home when she's ready. Thanks for the suggestion

[agmantoo]

Tango, how much are you feeding the Charlais calf in total per 24 hrs?

[Tango]

I'm keeping a check to make sure she take the total recommended on the milk replacer which is about 18 ounces of powder. Instead of the one gallon replacer per day however I've had better success using the same powder and providing 2 gallons of water a day. Same caloric intake with twice the water. Has been good for the calves since I started this method... no more scouring. I'm also adding half a tablespoon butter per bottle or the equivalent per half bottle to give her extra calories for the cold nights.

[Rockin'B]

That Charolais is a little heart breaker!

Cool pics. They look good.

[sewtlm]

I really like them all they are so innocent when they are young.

Really wish I could happen onto a Guernsey heifer like you did though. I just don't get that lucky with calves.

[Tango]

Sewtim do not be dscouraged. I quit looking for a Guernsey last year. They're so unfarily hard to find. I wasn't looking for a bovine at all, when I came across this sweet girl. It just happened our paths crossed. I hope you find yours.

[JulieLou42]

My cow's 3/4 Guernsey and I got her locally, so maybe she has a momma around here somewhere, tho' it's been 6+ years. Maybe mine has brothers and sisters around that I don't know about. But, I do know the folks who had her still, they're still in the area.