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Post by brightraven on Jan 10, 2020 8:18:36 GMT -6
You ask if I was going to supplement the Dam. I have not but they have taken off some of her condition. My calves have access to creep. One looks great, the other one looks poor.
I had thought I would supplement her but it is a major PITA to separate her every day. What I am going to do, is give them another month on her and then pull the calves off.
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Post by bootjackbulls on Jan 10, 2020 8:25:01 GMT -6
My twins last born last spring were left on their dam. Cow was 14, but in excellent shape. I only put out creep when the grass was poor, but otherwise, the cow did the work. One was smaller at birth, so I knew she would be behind. In the end, I weaned them at about 175 days. I could have waited, but I wanted the cow (who was bred back for March) to have plenty of time to put on cover before winter and the only other calf born in that group needed to be weaned (he was as tall as his first calf dam). At weaning, there was a 100 pound difference between the two, but the dam weaned off 1200 pounds of calf when she only weighs 1600 herself, so I am more than happy to accept the difference. I tend to think leaving them on takes extra monitoring to ensure the cow doesn't become over-taxed or that one calf doesn't fall behind.  |
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Post by brightraven on Jan 10, 2020 9:16:56 GMT -6
My twins last born last spring were left on their dam. Cow was 14, but in excellent shape. I only put out creep when the grass was poor, but otherwise, the cow did the work. One was smaller at birth, so I knew she would be behind. In the end, I weaned them at about 175 days. I could have waited, but I wanted the cow (who was bred back for March) to have plenty of time to put on cover before winter and the only other calf born in that group needed to be weaned (he was as tall as his first calf dam). At weaning, there was a 100 pound difference between the two, but the dam weaned off 1200 pounds of calf when she only weighs 1600 herself, so I am more than happy to accept the difference. I tend to think leaving them on takes extra monitoring to ensure the cow doesn't become over-taxed or that one calf doesn't fall behind. Mine were 55 and 50 at birth. The 50 has really fallen behind. The cow was actually over-conditioned at birth so that has helped. She has lost condition but still is fine. She bred back on the first AI. I just don't want to pull her down much more. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 10, 2020 9:35:45 GMT -6
Even my bottle fed twins never grow the same. One always ends up smaller. I’ve even tried bottle feeding the bigger one and throwing the smaller one on my nurse cow, still grows slower.
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Post by gizmom on Jan 21, 2020 12:00:02 GMT -6
We got a nurse cow for the first time last year she is sure nice to have. She raised a twin heifer last year that is a dandy this year she is raising her calf and another twin. Last week when we were flushing I looked over and she had three nursing one of the donors (Queen Mother) is really struggling this year she is really gimpy so her calf helps itself at the Jersey buffet. The Queen Mother cow is going to town as soon as her calf is weaned she has sure been a good one.
Gizmom
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Post by Nesikep on Jan 22, 2020 15:22:21 GMT -6
I've had a few orphans get adopted, they never get the same attention as the real calf though... The tan one was the adopted one, he never did learn to steal much, so he was pretty hungry... This was in june, as time went on you could see the white face gain on him  The one still nursing here is the orphan (cow's brother actually), He had about 5 mommas by the end of the year and you couldn't pick him out from the rest of the calves  Momma of the first pair always gets a little rough by weaning time but fills back in over winter and has always bred back punctually, Second momma seems to maintain condition better, the year after this pair she raised the biggest heifer of the herd |
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