Bottle Calf Question?

MBeckett · #1 04/18/12, 04:09 PM

The wife and I are thinking about buying a bottle calf, We own 10 acres and we have a 1/2 acre pattock fenced off that has access to our barn. I know from my experience around dairy farms that they usually keep them penned up in very small confined pens. My question is will it be ok to let this calf roam around in a 1/2 acre area, or should I build a small pen to keep it confined? I do have some small stalls in the barn that I could keep the calf penned up in but I feel like it should have access to more daylight than the barn can provide. Should I keep the calf penned up in the barn for a few days until it gets used to everything and then let it roam the 1/2acre? I am aware of the stress that new situations can take on a bottle calf, so any comments and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Oakshire_Farm · #2 04/18/12, 04:25 PM

From my experience..... when I have picked up bottle calves from dairy farms that have been penned. They have no idea what a fence is! They can see through and will run straight into the wire. So I like to keep them in for a few days just until they get acquainted and settled in. Then they are less likely to take off running into fences.

InvalidID · #3 04/18/12, 04:47 PM

What kind of fence? If it's cattle panel or some kind of wire I'd let him roam. If it's split logs or something similar I'd pen him up.

I use mostly electric fence myself so I have a cattle panel fence to hold the bottle calves. I strung electric line around the inside so they hit that, then hit the cattle panel. This way they get zapped and can't run straight through.

myersfarm · #4 04/18/12, 10:51 PM

some babay calfs do not have a REVERSE GEAR so they touch it shocks and the run forward

Valmai · #5 04/19/12, 04:03 AM

Keep the calf in the barn until it knows you are its meal ticket, then let it out when the weather is fine. No matter what you try, the first time they are released they run and then run some more. The only way they learn about fences is by banging into them. IMO they may or may not have a reverse gear but they definitly do have brakes.

MBeckett · #6 04/19/12, 03:52 PM

Thanks for the input! I think I will keep him penned up in the barn for a few days until he gets to know me and relizes that I am his source of food. BTW it is field fence that is around this section of land but once he gets a lil bigger I will let him out into the larger pasture that is electrified.