Post by sweetiepie on Apr 15, 2015 16:55:29 GMT -5
So my full jersery heifer calf (Annabelle) will be one year old, May 20th. She was in a very large pen by herself all winter. She has always had loose mineral available to her. One kind was given to me and is old but I also offer separately an all purpose cattle mineral from tractor supply that is suppose to have adequate phosphorous. About a month ago she started tearing off the siding to the chicken coop. So I started sprinkling the mineral into her grain ration of cracked corn and oats that she gets twice a day. Our grass isn't really green yet but last weekend I left her out to pasture. I have seen her eat paper, stickers off barrels, wood splinters off pallets and I was bringing the live cam back to the barn and she ate the strap while I was opening the door to the barn. That is what I have seen. Who knows what else. So she promptly went back to her pen, until she quits this.
It may be boredom, I can't put her with the other heifer because that heifer will try sucking on her and I can't keep a weaning ring in her nose for anything. I can't put her in with mom because I wasn't giving mom much grain since she is dry and due to calf in a month. I thought being in a big pasture would give her something to do besides eat things she shouldn't.
She has all the hay she could want, so I don't think it is a fiber issue. If it is a phosphorus issue, I was thinking about feeding her sunflower seeds, I have some from my garden last year and I have flax. I read on the web that I would not have to crack the seeds because they are big enough she would chew them enough to mostly digest. The flax would have to be whole and I know she won't get as much out of that as if it were ground.
Has anyone had this problem? Any other ideas about what I could give her. I know kelp and blood meal but I am a little money deprived right now, so hoping to try some cheap fixes first.
I was hoping to keep her as a replacement heifer for Delight but she might become hamburger and I will keep the beef heifer instead.
It may be boredom, I can't put her with the other heifer because that heifer will try sucking on her and I can't keep a weaning ring in her nose for anything. I can't put her in with mom because I wasn't giving mom much grain since she is dry and due to calf in a month. I thought being in a big pasture would give her something to do besides eat things she shouldn't.
She has all the hay she could want, so I don't think it is a fiber issue. If it is a phosphorus issue, I was thinking about feeding her sunflower seeds, I have some from my garden last year and I have flax. I read on the web that I would not have to crack the seeds because they are big enough she would chew them enough to mostly digest. The flax would have to be whole and I know she won't get as much out of that as if it were ground.
Has anyone had this problem? Any other ideas about what I could give her. I know kelp and blood meal but I am a little money deprived right now, so hoping to try some cheap fixes first.
I was hoping to keep her as a replacement heifer for Delight but she might become hamburger and I will keep the beef heifer instead.