well i didit again

[lilly foote]

well i went to texas to a cattle sale(i know better but) and came home with for heifers that are about 300lbs each. I know nothing about taking care of calfs over the winter. i have no big cows for them to hang out with. got rid of our milk cow last year she alway fed all our babies. at least these calves are eating creep so thats a plus if anyone can offer any advise i would surely
appreciate it

lilly,
mylilfoote@yahoo.com[/email]
phat girl farms

[Karin L]

Well, it sounds like these calves have probably been early weaned, so you putting them on creep feed (what kind?) is all right.

Now, are you keeping these heifers to sell them next year, or are you keeping them for breeding purposes? What breed (or breeds) are they? Are they dairy, or beef heifers?

Don't worry about having a den mother for them, the four of them can keep themselves company.

Now it's obvious you have fencing, handling facilities, and waterers in place since you had a cow previously. BUT, do you know if they have been vaccinated, either prior to you purchasing them or after you have brought them home?

First off, where are you located? I'll give you a little info on winter feed, but I won't know if it'll work out for you if I don't know where abouts you are. So with that, for winter feed, hay will be sufficient. If your feeding in square bales (particularly small) you'd have to probably feed a bale every couple days (I'm just guessing; I'm always working with 500lb feeder steer calves and for me a 5x6 round bale with four 500# calves would last a few weeks to over a month). Also, if you supplement with grain (1/2 a 5-gallon pale for the four of them) it would help them too...both to bucket-train them, and to get some weight on them.

That's about as much as I can help you with from the info that you gave out. Hope that helps a little.