new calves

gander801 · #1 10/08/14, 09:55 PM

So I just bought 5 new weened calves. 4 black Angus and 1 red Angus. so anyways they are approximately 150 miles away and I will be picking them up next Wednesday. Is there anything I should do for that long of trip either before loading them or after I get them to the farm?

Thanks

Arnie

MO_cows · #2 10/08/14, 10:49 PM

Check your fences! Newly weaned calves, stressed a little from moving them, can go on a real mission to escape and go find their mother. Best if you have a pen to put them in for the first few days, don't just turn them out on a big pasture. They need to learn where the water is, where the fences are, and just settle in and settle down.

msscamp · #3 10/08/14, 11:41 PM

I would also hit them with a dose of Nuflor or Baytril - probably Baytril - to prevent pneumonia/shipping fever due to the stress of weaning and the move.

ETA: I would NOT turn them out on pasture for at least 2 weeks to give them time to become acclimated to their new surroundings.

gander801 · #4 10/09/14, 12:20 AM

Thanks. How big of an area should I give them? Should it be electric, my perimeter fence is 6 strand HT electric? Would cattle panel work for a small enclosure until they are trained to electric? Will look into getting Nuflor or Baytril is that from a vet or OTC?

msscamp · #5 10/09/14, 01:03 AM

Cattle panels are probably not going to work for fence training unless you can raise them off the ground with blocks of wood or something that does not conduct electricity. Otherwise they will probably ground out and interfere with the flow of the electric charge. Both Baytril and Nuflor are Rx from a vet. You should be able to buy individual doses of either one, as opposed to an entire bottle. As far as the area size goes, I've raised bottle calves in a 10' by 20' pen, but it wasn't big enough to allow them to run and play. If you've got pasture for them, the initial pen doesn't really matter because they will only be in it for 2 weeks.

Jlynnp · #6 10/09/14, 08:03 PM

New calves here go in a 16 x 16 pen attached to a stall so they have a place to get out of the weather should it turn bad. They then are released into the small pasture for a bit so they can "meet" every one over the fence. Eventually they go out with the other cows, goats, donkeys and chickens.

Btw I use Nuflor

gander801 · #7 10/10/14, 01:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jlynnp

New calves here go in a 16 x 16 pen attached to a stall so they have a place to get out of the weather should it turn bad. They then are released into the small pasture for a bit so they can "meet" every one over the fence. Eventually they go out with the other cows, goats, donkeys and chickens.

Btw I use Nuflor

That is about the size I was going to go with. Do you use electric on them at first. By that I mean run electric wire inside cattle panels?

Awnry Abe · #8 10/10/14, 07:08 AM

No electric needed on the cattle panel pen. Turn them out of that pen onto the electric after they have stopped bawling and have slowed their pace to a step here and a step there. It will take several days. Use that time to get them bucket trained. Pick a day when you have a slack schedule.