Rearing suck calfs

john mayo 10

Lost a cow a few days ago and decided to bucketfeed the calf. Ch bull by CSQ. Bought 2 red whitehead hex heifers suck calves to put in the pen with him to keep him quiet. Collecting them on saturday. Have the ch bull on maverick. Heifers are on maverick too. How long do i have to keep them on maverick? Meal?. Sorry for questions but im new to this. Sucklers is my game

Sam Kade

Until they are eating a kg of meal each and can be switched over to solid food.

Parishlad

Not an expert on calf rearing either but have had to bucket feed a few over the last few years for various reasons.
As per Sam's advice above. Likely to be 8 weeks at least I would say. Make sure you keep fresh water in front of them every day. Keep the bedding nice and dry under them. They will need to be watched closely!

Mooooo

I'd go to 10 weeks minimum, small amounts of fresh meal to start. Water and straw. Depending on replacer some reckon it will take a bag and a half to rear them. Could introduce a bit of silage later or if you have a handy sheltered paddock you could feed them milk in, let em out in a few weeks if weather is ok

john mayo 10

Cheers. Was thinking 8 to 10 weeks until taking them off milk replacer. Which would be better cruch or pencils?

Mooooo

Start with crunch, you could switch to pencils later by mixing them in once they are eating a bit

john mayo 10

What kind of money can i expect for these hex heifers if i sell them n the bsck end of the year

john mayo 10

Been feeding the suck calves twice a day. All going well. They are picking at meal aswell. Should i introduce hay for them of silage

simx

john mayo 10 wrote: »

Been feeding the suck calves twice a day. All going well. They are picking at meal aswell. Should i introduce hay for them of silage

Only give them straw to eat here find hay can bring pot bellys sometimes

White Clover

john mayo 10 wrote: »

Been feeding the suck calves twice a day. All going well. They are picking at meal aswell. Should i introduce hay for them of silage

Good clean straw as simx says. You need to get the rumen going. Good scratch factor with the straw.

john mayo 10

White Clover wrote: »

Good clean straw as simx says. You need to get the rumen going. Good scratch factor with the straw.

Sound. Have plenty of straw. Would barley straw be better than oats straw?

Sheep breeder

Give them the barley straw better feed and we find don't spare the milk replacer as the more the better when it comes to weaning and as yearlings in terms of weight and size, we usually put in near to 2 bags per calf and always have bigger stronger calves than a mate who uses the one bag,

JD115m

Sheep breeder wrote: »

Give them the barley straw better feed and we find don't spare the milk replacer as the more the better when it comes to weaning and as yearlings in terms of weight and size, we usually put in near to 2 bags per calf and always have bigger stronger calves than a mate who uses the one bag,

What milk replacer dothe ye use

Sheep breeder

JD115m wrote: »

What milk replacer dothe ye use

Using Wicklow cattle company milk replacer for the last 3 years and have to say super super stuff and very good value, different types for different calf rearing.