How do you bottle feed a baby calf?

Answer 1

A normal beef calf is raised by its mother for the first 5 months of its life. At 5 months of age it will be weaned and raised accordingly with what its future holds for it. If you are trying to raise a beef calf with out the mother you will need to raise it similar to a dairy calf. You will need a 2 quart bottle with a nipple. Twice a day you will need to feed the calf a 2 quart bottle full of either whole milk or milk replacer. Milk replacer is available at most production animal feed stores. You will also have to provide the calf with water from 2 weeks of age on (do this in a pail). The calf will also need to be started on a calf feed as soon as it will start eating to help stimulate rumen development. At about 7 weeks of age the calf will need to start receiving good quality hay. At 8 weeks of age wean the calf from milk. At this point the calf will be fed water grain and hay.

Answer 2

This all depends on your knowledge of calves and/or cows, your goals with this calf or with that cow, and how much you're willing to spend to care for either one. So, ultimately there is no "best" type of animal to raise. But I will try to list some advantages of each below to give you an idea of what is best and what isn't.

It is better to raise a calf because:

- they're so cute

- they're easier to train to a halter

- you can bond with them easier since its easy to become attached to them

- they eat much less than a cow

- they don't need as much room to graze or move around as a cow does

It's not better to raise a calf because:

- they get sick easier than cows do because they have a poorer immune system

- they need to be fed milk from a bottle every 2 to 4 hours every day

- they require feed that is higher nutrient quality than grass alone because they don't have as developed a rumen as mature cattle do

- they require vaccinations and boosters

- they have to be castrated (if you've bought a bull calf)

- they can develop dangerous behaviors later on in life if you haven't disciplined them from a young age

- its harder to judge what medications (and how much) to give them when they do get sick

- they're babies, and need much more care than a mature cow does

- you can kill them easily if you don't know how to properly care for a baby calf

It's better to raise a cow (or an animal that is older than 6 to 12 months of age) because:

- they don't require as much care as a calf, so long as you keep feed, water, and mineral where they can get it at all times

- they're great for keeping the grass down

- (for cows only) they give milk

- (for cows and heifers only) they can bred to produce a calf

- (for steers only) they can be kept to graze a pasture for a few months then slaughtered for freezer beef

- Calves from cows can be kept and raised as cows (if they're female), or, if they're male, they can be castrated and raised for beef

- Often they only need grass, water and mineral (and hay for periods of little to no grazing) to keep them healthy.

- it's much easier to judge how much medication and what when a cow gets ill

- cows almost always have a good immune system, and thus may only need a couple of vaccinations once a year, especially when they're pregnant.

- they respect your space and won't act in a dangerous manner if they haven't been bottle-raised by you.

It's not better to raise a cow (or an animal that is older than 6 to 12 months of age) because:

- they eat and drink a LOT

- they require more area to graze than a calf does

- they're not as cute, soft and cuddly as baby calves are

- they require different levels of nutrition for each of their different reproductive cycles

- (for cows and heifers only) they can go into heat periods, and for those that don't understand the behaviours involved in females that go into heat, this can be a bit intimidating and even frustrating

- their large size can be intimidating (cows weigh from 1000 lbs to 1800 lbs)

- they make large cow piles (as big as a horse), and accidentally stepping in one is not always the greatest thing to experience

- (for cows and heifers only) judging when they'll calve out can be a bit challenging, especially if you're unsure of what to look for.

- (for heifers only) seeing a heifer not able to accept her calf at first can be a bit frustrating, because one doesn't know whether she'll accept her calf eventually or not.

- (for heifers only) it's difficult to judge how heifers will act when you try to tag and vaccinate her calf; some won't care, others may go nuts and not you let near her baby ever.

- it can be a challenge trying to halter train an animal that weighs 10x as you do and has the strength to send you flying with a sweep of her head.

Answer 3

Make sure he has good shelter and plenty of warm straw to lay in. Depending on his age, he should be bottle or bucket fed milk replacer every day around 2 to 3 times a day (more if he's really young like 2 or 3 days old), so that he gets 10% of his body weight in milk. He should also have access to hay, a little grain, and grass when he's let outside. Change the straw every day as he will poop and pee on it to keep it free of bad bacteria that he may get sick from, and keep him away from new calves that you bought until they have settled in. He may get sick on you unexpectedly, so make sure you have the vet's phone number on hand just in case.

Answer 4

Have some calf milk-replacer formula mixed to the right amount (follow the label!), then get the calf to suckle on the bottle. If the calf is hungry, he'll come right up to you and start suckling right away. Have the bottle pointed at an upward angle above the calf's head to mimic how the calf would suckle from his dam's udder. Hold the bottle steady with both hands when standing, or one hand on the bottle and the other resting on his chin when kneeling beside the calf.