Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2010 20:04:07 GMT -5
I hardly know what I want to ask, but I'm just in the process of deciding which way to deal with separating our 3 week old calf.
At present, he is in a little undercover shed with 3 sides open. He has a self waterer, which I never see him drink from, and straw on the floor to sleep on. I give him a few handfuls of his mum's food mix - chaff/corn/oats/pollard/vitamins, which he doesn't touch. When he was in the paddock with mum, he would nibble at her hay with her, and stick his nose in her feed trough, so perhaps he would be 'taught' to eat sooner if he was with her. I also feel bad for him being locked up for 23.5hrs a day, apart from the 10 minutes twice a day that he has access to the cow after I've finished milking. I milk 2 quarters, I leave one quarter for the calf, and the other is dry. Is it ok for him, healthwise, to spend all his hours in a shed, basically. Do you all keep the calf this way, or give him a separate paddock. I'm not sure that a separate paddock would work, as we have only 4 strands of wire (electrified) but I think the calf would get through.
At present, I'm loving getting so much milk. ;D It's more than we've ever got before when milking once a day, and the calf having the rest. I can't believe what some people here seem to get from their cows, but I am getting about 3 Litres (about 3/4gallon, I guess) each milk (this is just from 2 quarters, obviously). But I don't want to have all this milk at the expense of the calf's wellbeing.
Could anyone help talk this kind of newbie through this whole thing?
Thanks in advance...
Ani
At present, he is in a little undercover shed with 3 sides open. He has a self waterer, which I never see him drink from, and straw on the floor to sleep on. I give him a few handfuls of his mum's food mix - chaff/corn/oats/pollard/vitamins, which he doesn't touch. When he was in the paddock with mum, he would nibble at her hay with her, and stick his nose in her feed trough, so perhaps he would be 'taught' to eat sooner if he was with her. I also feel bad for him being locked up for 23.5hrs a day, apart from the 10 minutes twice a day that he has access to the cow after I've finished milking. I milk 2 quarters, I leave one quarter for the calf, and the other is dry. Is it ok for him, healthwise, to spend all his hours in a shed, basically. Do you all keep the calf this way, or give him a separate paddock. I'm not sure that a separate paddock would work, as we have only 4 strands of wire (electrified) but I think the calf would get through.
At present, I'm loving getting so much milk. ;D It's more than we've ever got before when milking once a day, and the calf having the rest. I can't believe what some people here seem to get from their cows, but I am getting about 3 Litres (about 3/4gallon, I guess) each milk (this is just from 2 quarters, obviously). But I don't want to have all this milk at the expense of the calf's wellbeing.
Could anyone help talk this kind of newbie through this whole thing?
Thanks in advance...
Ani