milk bar questions

[Trisha in WA]

I bought a milk bar this year...have only been using it for 3 1/2 months. So far I love how the calves are able to use it.
I bought the one with 5 nipples and am using it for a pair of steers and a separately for a single heifer. When I first bought it, there was one nipple that leaked. Valley Vet quickly sent me a replacement. Now ALL the nipples really leak. Is that normal?
Next, I wonder if anyone knows if they make a plug to go in holes that might be extra. For instance, I am getting 4 new bull calves so don't need that 5th nipple. Do they make a plug so that I can remove the extra so it doesn't leak out a bunch of milk?
One last question. When only one or two calves are using it, they tend to go to the side nipples and when they head butt it, it has caused a crack in the top where it hangs on the rail. Anyone have any suggestions on how to keep it more stable so it won't crack? That of course leads back to plugging the side nipple question.
I realize too that they make a milk bar made for one calf, but this is the one I bought knowing I would eventually be feeding more than one or 2 at a time.
Thanks,
Trisha-who really does love her milk bar...just needs a little help

[Ronney]

Trisha, what brand of milk bar (calfateria) have you got?

I use Stallion with Peach screw in teats and have found these to be the best so far. No leakage from the teats, the non-return valves are easily procured (usually free), and they come with screw on caps for the teats that aren't being used.

I've also got a 10 teater which I haven't used for about 10 years but I do recall it came with teats that leaked very quickly and I don't think it had any method of shutting off those I wasn't using - which is why I went to Stallion and bought 2 x single feeders and a triple feeder.

Cheers,
Ronnie

[topside1]

Trisha..I've been using milkbar 5 for three years now, not an expert but have some experience. All the nipples will eventually leak, they are just getting worn out by the customers (calves). As far as blocking one or more nipples, well wooden dowels that can be bought at any hardware store would easily cut off flow to the nipple. On the downside the dowel would hold bacteria that could make your calves sick. So think along those lines and you may come up with a suitable subsititute....Topside

[Trisha in WA]

Ronnie,
This is the one I have http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.h...2-00b0d0204ae5

Topside, I am surprised that the nipples would leak so much already. One actually has milk streaming out of it. I wonder if there is some kind of rubber plug I might find at the hardware store...I know what I have in mind, but don't know how to get the size I need. I'll let you know what I figure out.
Looks like I am only getting 3 more calves. I went to pick them up this afternoon and that's all they had, so I took them. Price went up too...from $5 3 1/2 months ago to $20. Market went up too. I checked our local auction report. I don't mind paying that to get them direct from the farm.

[myersfarm]

when they leak it is time to replace.....but i never do unless they run out in a stream if they just drip...... my calfs will empty the 2 1/2 gallons before much leaks out but the stream I would replace the nipple........I like the fact there is always a exrat nipple in my pens why I only put 5 calfs in a pen with a six nipple milk bar.......I would not stop up the extra nipples they will just move around on the extras......I have 8 milk bars and none have cracked in 7 years but i know they are a little thinner plactic now... i usually replace the nipples each year all 48 of them....


tjm

[Trisha in WA]

Thank you tjm, I think I will replace the one that is really streaming with the one that we took out before that was only a fast drip and get some new nipples ordered. I wonder if this particular one had been sitting in the warehouse a while and the rubber got old.
Also, I am probably going to have to rivet a metal strap to hold together the crack, but I am still wondering how everyone else hangs theirs to keep it from getting damaged.

[Ronney]

That is the same type of calfateria as my 10 feeder and has the same type of teats which leaked almost from the word go.

Rather than trying to plug the holes why not use the old teats then bend them back and tie with string, baleing twine or a cable tie.

This is what I use now, not the bucket type but the oblong type. I've been using them for over 10 years and the teats will last a calf and sometimes two.
http://www.stallion.co.nz/calffeed.php

http://www.stallion.co.nz/calfateria.php


Cheers,
Ronnie

[topside1]

Trisha. If you really want to eliminate a nipple, then from the outside of the the bar cut off the leaky nipple flush with the bar. There you will see the hole and size clearly. Stick something in the hole, now the calves have nothing to suck on and the hole is plugged. Topside

[Trisha in WA]

Thanks guys I really appreciate the feed back.
Topside, I need to go find that picture you posted with your calves feeding at their milk bar. I wonder if you have any trouble with them head butting it and knocking it crooked? That is what made mine crack. I hate to cough up another $70 for a new one when I can probably fix this one, but I also want to figure out how to keep this from happening. Maybe you are hooking it on the wall differently.
Trisha

[topside1]

Trisha, when they are babies I hook it on the wall. After a couple weeks of that then I move the feeding location to their mini pasture and hook the bar on to cattle panels. The panels have a lot of flexibility...Topside

[Trisha in WA]

Now I see the difference!!! Your side wood pieces are taller. Mine are only the width of the cross piece so there is no extra support at the top. I was wondering that exact thing this morning as I was feeding.
Thank you!

[Trisha in WA]

Well we changed our mount to be taller like in the picture and still they would butt it and make it go sideways. So, DH and I came up with a different way. We added a "bar" that is on a pivot and it comes down across the top of the milk bar and is pinned to the other side. So, now it is held down by this "bar" (made of wood). Works beautifully!
Thanks for all the suggestions.
Oh I decided to just leave the 2 nipples that aren't being used in place. I haven't come up with a good solution to that. With 3 calves drinking from it, it really isn't that big of deal.

[Oakshire_Farm]

I do not want to hijack this thread.... but....................

Can you use a milk bar for calves that are in with cows??? Will they figure it out and try to nurse???? The dairy that I buy my calves off takes the calves away right away and gives them the colostrum via a bottle. I get them at about a week or more old, i put them right onto a bucket. The calves all live in the same pasture as my 3 jerseys and 2 horses, and goats. Never in the 8 years of raising calves have I had a single calf figure out where the milk actually comes from! lol. Even the when my jerseys freshen I take the calves away right away and do the same thing after a week I put them out with my cows and the mother will still mother her calf but the calf does not associate mom with milk. I love the idea of the milk bar and have thought of swiching over from the bucket. But I do not want the calves nursing from my cow

[Trisha in WA]

I can't really answer your question, but I wouldn't think that they wouldn't have any more association to the cow with the milk bar than when you use your bottles.
I just love the ease of use of my milk bar...and now that I have it figured out so they don't beat it to death I love it even more LOL

[Oakshire_Farm]

I do not bottle feed here, I just swich them onto the bucket when I bring them home. The still try to suck on everything that fits in there, lol