trying again

[mary,tx]

Today I went back to auction, determined to try again. I looked carefully at all the calves ahead of time this time, and wrote down which ones I liked best and which ones I wanted to be sure NOT to bid on. There were four out of all of them that I wanted to be sure not to get. One was a little dairy calf, very pretty, but weak, tail tucked, and loose poos. One was beautiful, but just born and very lethargic, naval still wet. One I eliminated because of a too pink nose (because of last week's calf), and one I eliminated because of pink around his eyes.

The one I really wanted was the mottled faced in these pics. The other is the one I got because I became anxious waiting for the mottled faced, and worried that I'd come home without a calf.




Both are lively, and ever so much healthier looking at the get go than the calf I brought home last week, and both have taken a little milk, the mottle faced more eagerly than the other, but I am very optimistic.

Both are heifers.

[lamoncha lover]

ohhhhhhhhhh I am sooooooooo jealous. You got both heifers? BRAT. They are so cute. Would it be too personal to ask what you had to give? How old are they. congrads and glad you didnt give up

[oregon woodsmok]

Nice calves. Good choice.

[mary,tx]

I gave $140 each for them, which was about what I was hoping to pay, meaning I didn't really want to spend much more than that. I bid on only the smaller calves because I didn't want to spend a lot, and because I really was looking for something to put milk into.

They weighed in at about 90# each, so I'm not thinking they could be very old. I'm not an expert on this.

[Tom in TN]

Mary,

Those are really nice looking calves, and almost too cute to comprehend.

I'm so glad you're trying again. Best of luck with your new "babies".

Tom in TN

[springvalley]

Nice looking calves, good job. > Marc

[MO_cows]

Oh, those are too cute and they do look healthy. Hope everything goes great for you this time. Way to get back on the horse!

[ufo_chris]

They are sooo cute! Good Luck!

[mamahen]

One thing I like to have on hand "just in case" are packs of electrolyte powder. Tractor Supply carries them, and so do most feed stores. The one I usually get is "Bounce Back". Good for everything from cats to horses! The little pack does one bottle feeding.

I buy 6 packs (you figure 2 packs a day per animal) and if they start scouring - I give a bottle of that along with some pepto. Pepto seperate, usually just squirted in their mouth.

Good Luck! What cuties!

This is what I get: http://www.jefferslivestock.com/images/label/16576.htm

http://www.jefferslivestock.com/boun.../LIV/cp/16576/

[TxHorseMom]

Can I ask what auction you went to? I have gone to MANY horse auctions, but never a cow/calf auction and I'm a bit (ok a lot) intimadated. There's one nearby, but they go by the pound and I'm not sure what/how to bid.

[stormywood]

Oh, what precious cute babies. Best of luck with them. I love raising bottle babies too. It has been devestating at times as I have lost a few but right now I have 5 two year olds and a one year old that I am enjoying watching them grow up. I am sure I will go the BB route again as I do love it! Congrats!

[mary,tx]

Originally Posted by TxHorseMom

Can I ask what auction you went to? I have gone to MANY horse auctions, but never a cow/calf auction and I'm a bit (ok a lot) intimadated. There's one nearby, but they go by the pound and I'm not sure what/how to bid.

I picked these up at the Waco auction, out on Hwy 6. Auctions are intimidating to me, too, even though I have been a number of times now. Used to be, Waco would have maybe a few little dairy calves at the start, then they would run the beef calves through later on their mamas. Once in awhile they would separate the pair in the ring if they didn't get the price they wanted for the pair.

Now they seem to be pulling all those little beef calves at the get go when they come in on the older cows, selling the calves right up front at the start, and running the older cows through later as packers.

I like that because it gives me the option of buying a nice little beef calf for the bottle.

These sold by the head. But here's the thing. The smallest sell by the head, and the bigger ones go by the pound. By the pound is also more intimidating to me since I don't know how much the animal will weigh, and can't always do the math fast enough. I have bought a few that way over the years, though. If you watch as they leave the ring, they run the animals over a scale and the weight will come up on the screens up front. After watching a bunch, you will get an idea of about how much the animals a certain size are weighing.

Usually the auctioneer will specify at the beginning of bidding if the sale is by the head, and usually tap his hat (or at least this one does) when he says it. They used to have an auctioneer who would interchange terms in the middle of bidding, saying by the head when he was selling by the pound. That was very confusing. But the one they have now is much more clear, and also does not mind if someone stops him to ask a question.

[mary,tx]

I had a breakthrough this morning with BabyBliss, the Number 2 calf. Yesterday I went out four times and held the bottle in her mouth, and occassionally she'd swallow as milk trickled in. It was very tedious for both of us. This morning, I stuck the bottle in her mouth and she sucked!! Yay!!! (The Number One calf, Bessie, sucked the first day.)

[trbizwiz]

pig scours meds seem to work well for calves, the red stuff. I also give all my bottle babies some probiotics. The probiotics give their gut a good start that they normally would get from mommas milk. THey seem to eat better adn faster with teh probiotics too. I bought mine in an injection tube. You squirt about 10 ml's into their mouth prior to feeding MR. The pig scours stuff runs about $15 and the probiotic runs $11 in the smaller tube.

[sammyd]

Originally Posted by mamahen

One thing I like to have on hand "just in case" are packs of electrolyte powder. Tractor Supply carries them, and so do most feed stores. The one I usually get is "Bounce Back". Good for everything from cats to horses! The little pack does one bottle feeding.

I buy 6 packs (you figure 2 packs a day per animal) and if they start scouring - I give a bottle of that along with some pepto. Pepto seperate, usually just squirted in their mouth.

Good Luck! What cuties!

This is what I get: http://www.jefferslivestock.com/images/label/16576.htm

http://www.jefferslivestock.com/boun.../LIV/cp/16576/

we feed every calf a bottle of electrolytes as soon as they hop off the truck.

[spinandslide]

sounds like you made smart choices..and not bad prices! The calves in my area were going as high as $250-$275. $140 is more "my range" that Im willing to take a chance.

I second the electrolytes..I use Re-sorb..also can get at TSC..I think they order extra each year just for me, since three years ago when I had a deathly ill BC and was buying them out of it!

[Texas Papaw]

We usually wind up with a bottle calf every now and then. Instead of the farm store products, we keep a can of gatorade powder on hand. Any time we have a dehydrated calf we just mix up a couple of quarts and feed it. Calves seem to respond as well to the gatorade as anything we have tried and it is readily available at any grocery/convenience store. Last time i figured resorb was about $5 per quart fed whereas gatorade powder is less than $1 quart fed.

Just my 2 cents worth

[trbizwiz]

Bounce back is $9 for a 4lb bag. I dont know how many feedings you get out of it, but 2 qts is 4 scoups and there are a ton of scoups in that 4 lb bag. Way cheaper than store bought Gatoraide. I am thinking about putting it in cool aid for my kids in the summer. It is dextrose, potassium, sodium and baking soda. The dex is the expensive ingredient.

[mary,tx]

I've had the calves for a week today, and they are both coming over for their bottles, so I thought they were ready to turn out into their little field. They ran and frolicked together around the perimeter at least a couple of times, and were having great fun. (They'd been in separate coops to keep them from sucking on each other.)

Then I went out to give them their midday bottles. Maybe they weren't ready for the field, after all. Neither would come to me. The least wild one eventually ran into the barn, where I was able to corner her and give her the bottle.

The other one took me a couple more laps around the field before I finally got her to run into the barn, and I channeled her right back into her small coop. Even then I couldn't get her to settle down enough to come for the bottle, and eventually had to get her in a headlock again to bottle her.

Maybe we weren't quite ready after all. I left them cooped, and may or may not let them out for part of the day tomorrow.

[trbizwiz]

They werent hungry. Wait longer to feed them. If you teach them they are the boss, they are the boss. Hard to deal with in a 1200 lb animal.