Milk or Replacer for Bottle Calf?

[Deleted]

Trying to figure out the numbers on feeding milk replacer vs cow milk. I can get the cow milk for $3 a gallon. A 50 pound bag of milk replacer is $45. I think it's 2 cups/quart of water, but will have to look up the number of servings on the MFA site.

Met an old fella at the MFA today, who proclaimed, "Bottling any more than 8 weeks is a waste of time."  I kind of doubt that, because my experience with ungulates is that the longer you feed them milk, the better they grow. He also said I should grain as soon as they'll take it from my hand.

What sort of results have you folks had feeding bottle calves?

[myheaven]

In my experience the more milk fed the better they grow. The faster you get them eating solids the more they will put on.
Here is how I do it.
I give my calves the extra milk I have from my goats. If it's not enough I will mix a little milk Replacer. I use only 100% real milk replacer. Goats milk is richer then cow milk I use 3 pints of milk to one pint of water to start. That said, many have used all soy replacer and have had great success. I use a feed that is medicated for coccidi.
My 5 weeks old calf is bigger and more robust then my 7 week old calf. The difference is my 5 week old calf Is eating grain and hay. My stubborn 7 week old isn't. The 7 week old just had a bout of pneumonia the my 5 Weeker is kicking butt running around. Both were in the same pen on the same milk offered the same grain. The 5 Weeker was born smaller. Only thing different is the 5 Weeker is eating 4 lbs of grain and half a flake of hay.
When calves are raised by mom they are eating forage by day 2 or 4.
I let my jersey/angus cross have milk till 8 mts old. He is 900-1000 lbs already. He could easily be put in the freezer to feed my family now. But it's spring and hey free grass. Yeah let's keep him growing.
That's my two pennies.

[Deleted]

I do like heaven. Any extra goat milk goes to calves. If I need extra to fill bottles I make it up with MR.

[wally]

MR will provide 100% of nutrition that they need. on the side always provide grain, hay and fresh water all free choice

[Callie]

Is that whole, raw milk? Then I'd feed that. I'm sure the MR is cheaper than $5 a day. What the old timer meant is that if you're buying MR, then it's not cost effective to feed the calf MR longer than 8 weeks. If you have fresh raw milk to feed them, then I'd feed them as long as I could carry the bucket to them.

[Deleted]

I can get fresh raw milk for $3 a gallon. If there's extra goat milk from my herd (after house use for coffee and cheese), we'll feed that. I want to get him started on grain, but have heard so many different suggestions for that, too. Just oats. Oats and corn. Oats and corn and molasses. Purina Nutrina.

We like to avoid GMO and soy, so the Purina is probably out.

I want to get as much growth on him as possible. The faster we can raise him to butcher weight, the happier I will be.

[Muller's Lane Farm]

We rarely ever grain our beef ... an occasional treat but not a daily fare.

[Awnry Abe]

What is the end goal for this calf?
Anytime you take in advice, whether you asked for it or not, you need to filter it through your stewardship philosophies and world view. The rest of us may just not see the world the same way you do. I'd be graining my male goats if I didn't apply that filtering process.

With that in mind, I have a preference for extending the bottle time as long as the milk--and labor--is cheaper than other food stuffs. It's the way God designed the little boogers. But here is the nearly never-said kicker with such a statement: I am fine with a slow-growing carcass that I process at 36 months as long as he eventually gets there on my grass. To many, such a constraint breaks the economic model apart, for very understandable reasons.

Nutritionally, I don't think you'll go wrong with either type. If it were me, I would consider the economics first. If that $3 milk isn't produced on your farm, don't forget to factor in the convenience component of your source of feed stuff to that economic decision.

[Deleted]

Thanks, Abe, for bringing up some very good points and questions.

He's food on the hoof. We're sort of torn between getting him to Kamp Kenmore in a timely fashion, and getting him there in a more cost-effective way.

The milk is produced elsewhere, but we'll be getting more milk from the goats starting next week, so that will help defray the cost a bit. We have lots of graze for him, and will let him roam with the sheep. Still, we'll have to supplement with hay for a few months a year, and he will NOT be getting the high-quality alfalfa we bring in for the goats.