Post by Canningmama on Dec 12, 2011 19:48:01 GMT -5
Alrighty, I don't know much about raising calves. Good thing they're relatively low maintenance (I think! ). But here's where we are:
Chuck is 12 days old. He has one testicle that is clearly dropped and one that is clearly not. (my husband said he's jealous. ) I can feel the one that is not, but it's not hangin' down with the other one. Will it likely go ahead and drop or should it already have done that? I haven't banded him yet, but I want to as soon as I get the tool and as soon as he's ready. So, do I need to wait for that other testicle to drop or just try to get the band between the testicle and his belly?
And about food:
As of yesterday, he's getting 3 qts of whole milk twice a day and he is GROWING!!! Holy cow, he's gettin' big! So when should I be giving him more than milk? Like offering him water, hay, and grain? And when I do start offering him grain, what should I offer him? I have sweet feed, oats, beet pulp, some minerals (dairy cow and dry cow) and 14% protein feed left over from Daisy that I could give him if any of that is good to give a calf starting out. I also have an unopened 50lb bag of alfalfa pellets. So, over time, I'd like to use up what I had for Daisy. If I had a milk cow of my own, I'd just keep increasing his milk and let the majority of his nutrition come from as milk for as long as I wanted to, but since I'm getting the milk from the dairy down the road, I don't want to mooch too much. I'm figuring 1 1/2 gallons a day, hopefully till he's 3 months old is as much as I want to get since they're giving it to me for free (let's see, that's 10 1/2 gallons a week, 42 gallons a month, 126 gallons in 3 mo ....I need to start baking for them in appreciation!!! How bout a cake a week? ;D)
Thanks for your help, y'all!
For a funny story about Mr. Chuck Roast, go to Ange's blog and read about her experience with him today.
twobairds.wordpress.com/2011/12/12/rodeo/
Chuck is 12 days old. He has one testicle that is clearly dropped and one that is clearly not. (my husband said he's jealous. ) I can feel the one that is not, but it's not hangin' down with the other one. Will it likely go ahead and drop or should it already have done that? I haven't banded him yet, but I want to as soon as I get the tool and as soon as he's ready. So, do I need to wait for that other testicle to drop or just try to get the band between the testicle and his belly?
And about food:
As of yesterday, he's getting 3 qts of whole milk twice a day and he is GROWING!!! Holy cow, he's gettin' big! So when should I be giving him more than milk? Like offering him water, hay, and grain? And when I do start offering him grain, what should I offer him? I have sweet feed, oats, beet pulp, some minerals (dairy cow and dry cow) and 14% protein feed left over from Daisy that I could give him if any of that is good to give a calf starting out. I also have an unopened 50lb bag of alfalfa pellets. So, over time, I'd like to use up what I had for Daisy. If I had a milk cow of my own, I'd just keep increasing his milk and let the majority of his nutrition come from as milk for as long as I wanted to, but since I'm getting the milk from the dairy down the road, I don't want to mooch too much. I'm figuring 1 1/2 gallons a day, hopefully till he's 3 months old is as much as I want to get since they're giving it to me for free (let's see, that's 10 1/2 gallons a week, 42 gallons a month, 126 gallons in 3 mo ....I need to start baking for them in appreciation!!! How bout a cake a week? ;D)
Thanks for your help, y'all!
For a funny story about Mr. Chuck Roast, go to Ange's blog and read about her experience with him today.
twobairds.wordpress.com/2011/12/12/rodeo/