bottle calfs

[Anderson farms]

Hi. I just brought 2 calfs home they are holstien bulls. Should I give them any LA200 or anything? They are about 4 weeks old. They don't act sick just didn't know with the stress of moving them. Also can I go ahead and band them? I am planning on getting 5 total to run on about 12 acres of grass next year and then sell in the fall. Anything else I should do to them. Not my first time with calfs just been about 12 years and can't remember everything to do. Thanks for any help. Also should I give them a 7 way?

[topside1]

AF, if you bought the calves off a dairy farm and moved them directly to you homestead then in my opinion no shots are necessary. I've move at least 20 calves from farm to farm without a problem. At 4 weeks old I'm sure you are still feeding them milk or milk replacer. Four weeks old is a perfect time to burn and band.

[ozark_jewels]

I agree with John, but I think I would wait a week or two to band.......let them settle in and lessen the stress before adding the stress of banding.

[topside1]

On the other hand, if they were bought @ auction I'd give them a shot of something. Poly Serum is popular in my area and that's what I have used. It's a preventative and also can be used for treatment. It's available OTC and covers most of the common bovine diseases. If that's not your brand then contact your Vet for guidance. LA200 is not recommended, PEN G should be used before LA200 according to my VET. PEN G is mentioned only because it’s also an OTC anti-biotic. Nuflor & Baytril works best but only available via VET. My thoughts on auction animals are to consider them sick regardless of their auction day condition.

[topside1]

AF, where did you buy the calves and how are they doing?

[Anderson farms]

I bought them from a local dairy. They are doin fine. Eating alfalfa hay and a little sweet feed and getting two quarts of milk replacer twice a day. I haven't banded them yet was going to and could only find one testicle on the one calf. Is there anything else to do? Or Any tricks to banding them or raising them? I need all your guys little secrects. Thanks for the help

[john in la]

Originally Posted by Anderson farms

I need all your guys little secrects.

If I told you all my little secrets; they would not be secrets anymore; would they??????????

While you may or may not have paid a premium price for these calves you have done very well and now on your way to raising good healthy steers.
Most problems with calves come from auctions or in the first 4 weeks of life because their rumen is not working yet. You have avoided both of these problems.

So now get them use to a good feed. Once they are eating well you can start to wean them. Since you are not use to raising calves this will be in about 3 or 4 more weeks. I would let the banding go for a few more weeks.

The main thing you need to remember; and the biggest problem I see with novice calf raisers; is they think a calf can do well on grass alone after weaning. This is not true. While a calf with its mom gets only grass and no feed he also gets milk for 9 months. You will be taking away this milk so you will need to replace it with feed to help him along.

Not to steal your thread but let me ask a question because it is related.

topside1
Was you able to find the TSU-2 drug for your auction calves??
How did that work out for you??

[topside1]

John, yes the TSV-2 was available via the VET. However vet persuaded me to give 30cc of Polyserum SQ and Bovi-Shield GOLD 2cc IM. Even with all this prevention one of the two heifers still got sick. I doctored her up and they are both doing fine now. Thanks for asking John.

AF, when your ready to band just massage both testes into the sack and band. Also post banding verify that they are both still below the band. As Emily and John mentioned give them a little more time to adjust then band. The longer you wait the stronger they get...Good luck