I'll try to make it short. I got two day old Jersey Bulls from a dairy that I'm going to raise for beef. They're about a week old at this point.
I'm giving each 2 feedings a day. Each cow gets a bottle that has a little over 8 oz of 24/18 Herdfirst milk replacer and then I fill up to the 4 pint line. I feed that once in the morning and once in the evening equaling a total of 2 full bottles a day (8 pints total).
I also have water available to them and starter grain.
Please feel free to provide constructive criticism on this schedule and any opinions/experience you have. These are my first cows and while I have mentors, there's a lot of conflicting ideas out there.
2x a day feeding of the amount you said should be ok. One thing that I learned was to make sure to use a good quality milk replacer that has all milk protein. Some of the lower quality/cheaper MR has a soy-base protein and I avoid that.
One wants to keep them on a consistent feeding schedule and not overfeed. You don't want scours. Watch them like a hawk for these first couple of weeks and really pay attention to how they are acting/pooping. I'm assuming they got their colostrum from their mama/dairy when they were born. Have fun with them and good luck to ya. Hope all goes well.
Thank you! I'm using Herdfirst 24/18. It was about $62 a bag so it better be the good stuff!! I also checked to make sure the protein was from milk. They were on colostrum for at least a day before I bought them.
In your (or anyone else's) opinion, how long should I plan to have them on the bottle before weaning.
Sounds like you got some real good MR there. I know the price of it can be pricey. But everything's pricey now. LOL! But anyways, some people will say 2 months, 3 months, 4 months.....I always kept mine on milk for 4 months. You can begin giving a calf starter type grain real soon and grass/hay for them to nibble around,plus water. Any bottle calves I have raised ran with a herd of cows so they mimicked them. Take care.
Thank you @DianeWV ! Since posting this, I've discovered many other questions regarding this topic under "recommended reading". It wasn't that easy to find the topic before posting. Thanks again
Jake, you are feeding the correct amount of MR, that's exactly what I do. I never increase the ounce amount or blend until they are a month old and then only increase slowly. I only raise Jerseys and all of mine were weaned at 8 weeks old or until the bag of power was used up. Sounds like you are on the road to success....Topside.
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