New Calf

[angus_guy]

My son bought a calf at the Sale Barn yesterday (175#) He got $ for Xmas and wanted to get a calf and (let his $ grow)

I have 2 questions

Do you think that I need to isolate him I took hime to the vet on the way home yesterday and got his shots the then says that I need to isolate him for 4-6 weeks

Also do you think that a bottle would hurt or help I buy holstein bull calves but this year they are scarce I feed them bottles 6-7 weeks but my calves on mommas aren't weaned until 6-8 months

he will have access to a creep feeder and good hay

TIA

AG

[travlnusa]

You want to keep the new calf seperated for at least 2 weeks, and 4 is much better.

[angus_guy]

Originally Posted by travlnusa

You want to keep the new calf seperated for at least 2 weeks, and 4 is much better.

Why ?

How long does shipping fever (for example) take to develop?

[travlnusa]

You dont want to intoduce germs to other calves from the new arrival. Give whatever germs/bugs etc he has run their course now that his is at your place, then you can group them.

I keep ALL calves, even when bought from same farm in their own pen up until they are off the bottle for two weeks. This way if a calf get sick, they do not spread it. Also by waiting two weeks post bottle the lose ( or should lose) the urge to suckle.

[dosthouhavemilk]

How old is this calf? A bottle is very good in the first one to two weeks of life because it helps to form the esophogeal groove (I simply cannot spell that word without looking it up and I don't feel like looking it up right now ). We keep ours on a bottle for one week and train to a bucket after that. With a bucket we can give them more liquids. We feed them twice a day and all the liquids they get is in those two feedings. They have access to Primer 1 the rest of the time.
My only concern would be if he is getting enough with just a bottle or not.

[herefordman]

I would stick him on a bucket too, the bottle is a pain.
At a 175 # you should keep him seperate anyways for a bit, let him get used to the herd through a fence, otherwise the others may play basketball with him.
If he's a new arrival, keeping him by himself for at least two weeks is just good management, if for no other reason you can keep a good eye on him for any signs of problems, sometimes auction cattle can be poor buys.
Good luck, have fun

[allen8106]

Originally Posted by angus_guy

My son bought a calf at the Sale Barn yesterday (175#) He got $ for Xmas and wanted to get a calf and (let his $ grow)

I have 2 questions

Do you think that I need to isolate him I took hime to the vet on the way home yesterday and got his shots the then says that I need to isolate him for 4-6 weeks

Also do you think that a bottle would hurt or help I buy holstein bull calves but this year they are scarce I feed them bottles 6-7 weeks but my calves on mommas aren't weaned until 6-8 months

he will have access to a creep feeder and good hay

TIA

AG

I'm thinking that at 175# he's too old to be on milk but maybe not. I bottle feed no more than a week then start them on a bucket. I feed the milk from the bucket until they are 8 weeks old then gradually wean them off on to grain and hay. I provide grain and hay from the start so they get used to seeing it around. By the time you are ready to wean from the bottle they should be eating enough grain and hay to allow them to grow.

[jerzeygurl]

by all means keep separated for a period of time, no point in risking whole herd for one calf,dont know if you got him at farm or at barn, but can have parasites internal or external with out you knowing it. Give it time to show up, we lost our best billy because we were in too big a hurry to quarantine.