Advice on raising large amounts of bottle calves

Heritagefarm · #1 01/01/12, 10:25 PM

We're thinking about mass raising holstein bull calves / steers to give us a boost. We were thinking about doing 24 calves, with 8 calves in 3 month increments. Have any of you done this, and if so, did it work well? What size lambar would we have to have? Nurse cows would be better, but we can't afford any....

myersfarm · #2 01/01/12, 10:47 PM

I raise dairy heifers 90 at a time on milk bars.....check out the thread on here ... sale barn calves....a little advice if you are doing 24 at a time somebody will need to be there 24 hours a day...when you have sick calves

VaFarmer · #3 01/01/12, 10:57 PM

feeding time gets to be a job, I had 9 going this spring, a patch of 5 last winter, now do 2 at a time. fixing 9 bottles and carring them to the barn then cleaning gets old, 9 bottles are heavy. I had the guys in a shared stall with the 9 bottles hanging on the gate and a free for all feeding time, I'd call them in from the field and wait till everyone was there then but the bottles in the hangers sometimes fix a couple of extra bottles for fast eaters. Would have been easier if in individual stalls or something, 2 at a time is great, 10 min to fix, easy to care in 1 bag, 10 min for them too eat, quick clean up, done.

sammyd · #4 01/02/12, 04:20 AM

we prefer to keep them in separated in hutches till weaning then group them on pasture with a large shelter. We use bottles. We don't have nurse cows but do have a herd of goats.....
6 or 7 at a time is about the most we've done. 4 hutches with 4x8 sheets of plywood as roofs between them.

francismilker · #5 01/02/12, 10:10 AM

I have kept up to 40 at a time with the help of my kids. It's a pretty big job the first week getting them all on their feet good and nursing well. After that, for us, it's just MR mixing or cow milking everyday to feed the mob and business as usual. I don't generally have too many probs after the first week but would recommend someone looking at them at least every couple hours for the first week or so.

myersfarm · #6 01/02/12, 10:16 AM

Francis...I use the
3 day rule this is when you have the most problems check every few hours make everybody get up....the sick ones will scour when they get up also walk around in pen looking for scours
10 day rule you should be safe but still better check make everybody get up 4 times a day 2 at feeding and 2 during the day

14 days check at feeding real good for wet tails

topside1 · #7 01/02/12, 10:16 AM

Where in the world is all that milk going to come from?

Chixarecute · #8 01/02/12, 10:17 AM

When we dairied at DH's uncles place, he had a calf pen with teeny calf stanchions. It didn't work well for the youngest (under 2-3 weeks), but after that it was great. Feed them a little grain, lock them in, bottle/bucket feed, a little grain, wait a half hour or so to release.

Heritagefarm · #9 01/02/12, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by topside1

Where in the world is all that milk going to come from?

Milk goats!

A lot of milking, but we have a milk machine that can do two at once, with me milking one by hand also. That means milking three at once, so it shouldn't be too big of a hassle. Nurse cows are easier, but like I said, they're just not in the budget.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chixarecute

When we dairied at DH's uncles place, he had a calf pen with teeny calf stanchions. It didn't work well for the youngest (under 2-3 weeks), but after that it was great. Feed them a little grain, lock them in, bottle/bucket feed, a little grain, wait a half hour or so to release.

Hm, that sounds like a lot of work. To start off, we keep them in smaller pens until they're past the "we-will-drop-dead-instantly," then we put them out on pasture.

Quote:

Originally Posted by myersfarm

Francis...I use the
3 day rule this is when you have the most problems check every few hours make everybody get up....the sick ones will scour when they get up also walk around in pen looking for scours
10 day rule you should be safe but still better check make everybody get up 4 times a day 2 at feeding and 2 during the day

14 days check at feeding real good for wet tails

We have very good luck giving the calves Calf-Pro and yogurt. We've noticed a very marked decrease in scours that way.
What do you use as your giant lambar? We may just bite a bullet and go for 44 calves.

topside1 · #10 01/02/12, 06:29 PM

Currently I'm on a calf raising vacation. But, normally I only raise dairy heifers, five at a time. My milk bar has five nipples. Three groups of five per year, raised on goats milk, frozen and fresh, sometimes MR in a pinch at weaning age. All calves were bought at auction, lost two out of 50 plus. Forgot to mention, raised at least one dozen bull calves as a beginner , cheaper way to gain experience. Bull calves came off local dairy farms...Always made money as long as you don't factor in your time. Hard work IMO.....Topside

myersfarm · #11 01/02/12, 08:11 PM

What do you use as your giant lambar ? if that was for me...I put in pens of 5 and feed in a 5 or 6 nipple MILKBAR I have 20 milk bars

topside1 · #12 01/03/12, 08:04 AM

As Myers mention, separating and sorting is the best method. Sort by size, breed, age, illness, easier to identify, also makes feeding more enjoyable I'd imagine...Topside

myersfarm · #13 01/03/12, 09:44 AM

Topside I sort by SIZE....but I do also a few days sort by the HOGS the ones that are always butting the others off if they keep it up for a week or two.......I have it made with my buildings..I can set one up in 10 minutes with the frontend loader and throw in some hay ....I also always have a sick pen that is down wind of the other pens and also 50 yards away......AND I also have a inclosed horse trailer by the shop that I can put heat into if needed I have 40 of these buildings that hold 5 calves with 20 milk bars.....but I try not to share the milk bars unless I have to between two pens

myersfarm · #14 01/03/12, 09:45 AM

one more thing I never sort new calves in to pens of calves that have been here a week

Heritagefarm · #15 01/03/12, 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by myersfarm

What do you use as your giant lambar ? if that was for me...I put in pens of 5 and feed in a 5 or 6 nipple MILKBAR I have 20 milk bars

I don't have a giant lambar; I was wondering what you used for your giant milkbar. You said you have a milkbar for each batch of calves?
How do you wash them when you're done?
Are they expensive to make?
Thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by topside1

As Myers mention, separating and sorting is the best method. Sort by size, breed, age, illness, easier to identify, also makes feeding more enjoyable I'd imagine...Topside

Well, we were going to go for 24 bottle holsteins for 9 months, which is about when the goat's milk will slack off. People say that they have a 10 month lactation, but by the tenth month, the milk supply is insignificant.
So that's 8 calves every 3 months. Wean at the end of three months, get new batch of 8. Do you usually have many problems finding the same ages of calves to feed?
I was going to feed all 8 at once, but now that you mention this, perhaps two pens of 4 would work better.

Lazy J · #16 01/03/12, 01:13 PM

When you said Large Numbers I thought you really meant a significant amount of calves.

I had a customer in Idaho that had 36,000 calves from day old to 300 lb on the ranch, they were bottle fed for 5 weeks, that was about 3000 calves fed bottles every day. Of course they had their own pasteurizer and had a crew of Mexicans to do the work.

Jim

myersfarm · #17 01/03/12, 02:27 PM

hertitage thats the best part of my milkbars.....after I get thought putting milk in all the pens I go right back though putting in one quart of water the calfs suck that out cleaning nipples...plus the bars stay in pen and the calve suck on it instead of each other

http://www.farmandranchdepot.com/far...ment/MilkBars/

this what I use it sells for $93.60

this is a new company the ones I bought went out of business

myersfarm · #18 01/03/12, 02:39 PM

here is mine

Advice on raising large amounts of bottle calves - Cattle

myersfarm · #19 01/03/12, 02:40 PM

first picture show the ridge in bottom...so the calfs can suck most of it out

the grey one are the ones at $63.60 on website

Heritagefarm · #20 01/04/12, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lazy J

When you said Large Numbers I thought you really meant a significant amount of calves.

I had a customer in Idaho that had 36,000 calves from day old to 300 lb on the ranch, they were bottle fed for 5 weeks, that was about 3000 calves fed bottles every day. Of course they had their own pasteurizer and had a crew of Mexicans to do the work.

Jim

Hey man, when you're used to two calves at a time for three months jumping to eight calves seems like a lot! I'm pretty sure I can do it, though. And it's just little ol' me, I don't have a bunch of illiterates to work for me.