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Post by angusrancher on Jul 28, 2020 7:36:45 GMT -6
Sooooo. Let mama & twins join the herd. She kicked him off every time I saw them and as soon as he heard me in the Polaris he'd come running - I never had to search for him. But the twins were always together & other than not letting him nurse, she appeared to be taking good care of him (grooming, etc). And then, all the sudden, he was no longer interested in the bottle. My sweet, sweet Lily stepped up to the plate and adopted him in addition to raising her own calf. She's only 3, on her 2nd calf! The weird twist? I now have a blended family. Both mamas are co-mothering all 3 calves, they're almost always together and my life just got easier. No more bottles!!! Lily with her "twins" Pretzel, Leonard, Lily, Peanut and Popcorn in the back It takes a village....lol. My wife's Mini Yorkie is also named Peanut. What kind of milk replacer does everyone use? We don't have a lot of choices, but Land O Lakes seems good, with a higher fat content, but expensive.
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Post by chuckie on Jul 28, 2020 8:26:36 GMT -6
Wow tcranch!!! That is great that she took both in the long run. And a second cow to back them up. They should grow off so well. I have had cows to take twins before. If she had of only let them nurse, she would have had both. She cleaned them up, but I do believe her udder was so sore that she could not stand it. What is odd, she looked identical to the cow that had twins here. Very same head, face wand ears. The body looks so much alike too. I have three cows that are capable of having twins. They are all out of my favorite bull, Boomer. He sure had good heifers and bulls, but they throw twins.
You have done a great job with them.
I am so surprises at how large the twins I am feeding have grown. They are so fat and filled out. I have seen other bottle babies that looked to be lacking groceries before. I suppose they just don't keep enough grain, hay, and grass in front of them. Keeping them wormed and fly repellent makes a difference.
I wish I was good at guessing weights. When I wormed them, I used 350 lbs as my measurement. They are nice and smooth and not pot bellied. They do have the larger stomach area like a big cow, but not like a wormy malnourished calf. They are really tearing the grain and hay up.
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Post by chuckie on Jul 28, 2020 8:39:58 GMT -6
angusrancher, I use the TN Farmers Co-op milk replacer that is made by Land O Lakes. It is very expensive, but you must have it. As often as I have to purchase it feeding two bottle babies, it makes me feel that I am going to be in as much in feed as what they bring. I follow the directions on the bag and they get 1/2 gallon in the morning and evening. I do have scales that I measure the milk on. I noticed that the amount that is in the cup can vary greatly. The cup itself weighs, 1.2 oz. So I fill the cup up with 12 oz of the milk. Often then the milk is piled up above the top, I still have to add another oz of milk. If you make it level, then you often can be way low of 12 oz.
I mix half and half of pelleted calf feed with rumensin and distillers grain. They have part of my back yard so they would have plenty of green grass to eat. I put up a temporary electric fence and they have a calf hutch to go in if it starts to rain hard. I also keep out rumensin mineral too. I know they are not getting enough rumensin in the feed as I am cutting it half and half. But it has not set them back in anyway. I will take a photo of them when I go outside.
I tried to get a picture of them earlier while they were nursing but found out that there is no way of holding a camera while you are holding two bottles. ha-ha!!
Funny how the two young twins now are making a mud hole underneath my Burr Oak tree. They do not lie down in it, but they stand in it a lot. It will be a matter of time before they start wallowing in it.
I notice that the urine they are dumping in the hole is really making the tree put on new leaves. The calves won't be in this area enough to harm the tree. But they have never killed the trees they make the other mud wallow around in the pasture.
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Post by tcranch on Jul 28, 2020 17:11:01 GMT -6
I use (was using!) Land O Lakes Herd Builder. Yeah, it gets pricey - yet another reason I'm happy Lily took over. Twins are getting nothing other than mama's/adopted mama's milk and grass. I do throw out 20% protein cubes every couple days but none of my twins are interested. Yet! Crash is doing an awesome job with her twins, Derby & Boomer. They aren't as big as some of the other steers sired by the same bull but she's also not drawing down & I really haven't had to supplement her. picture upload
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Post by chuckie on Jul 28, 2020 20:40:54 GMT -6
She is a really nice long cow. Seems all the new full blooded Angus are getting shorter. I do like the names you have chose. Right now, my bull is Atlas, and his women are; Nell, Bee, Rachel, Eve, Early, Cassie and Lucy. These are the ones that will stay here, and I am deciding which heifer or heifers I will keep. I am leaning towards keeping Shirley's heifer since I lost her last winter. I will name her heifer Shirley too.
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Post by chuckie on Jul 28, 2020 20:55:30 GMT -6
These are not the best pictures in the world. After I give them their bottle, they nurse off of each other. It is a bit odd! The first picture of the bull calf while the heifer is nursing him, Then I let her go on about her business and took her picture. The second is the heifer. I have a feeling that she will not be a free martin. All the other twins that I raised, the heifer really took on the look of a bull real fast. They get a really thick shoulder and neck with a thicker heavier face. Their back side is covered with quite a bit of hair that you will not see on a normal heifer. So far she does not show that wooly trait. These two were born on March 4th, 2020. How long do most of you keep orphan calves on a bottle. These will be 5 months old next month.
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Post by tcranch on Jul 29, 2020 7:18:46 GMT -6
She is a really nice long cow. Seems all the new full blooded Angus are getting shorter. I do like the names you have chose. Right now, my bull is Atlas, and his women are; Nell, Bee, Rachel, Eve, Early, Cassie and Lucy. These are the ones that will stay here, and I am deciding which heifer or heifers I will keep. I am leaning towards keeping Shirley's heifer since I lost her last winter. I will name her heifer Shirley too. Funny story on how Crash got her name (she's now 7). Mama had her down in a deep draw - it was March & offered a lot of protection. We were watching from the top of the draw while she was being cleaned off, trying to figure out if it was a heifer or bull and making sure it got up & nursed. Hubby leaned forward too much, slipped on the wet leaves and went ass-over-teakettle down the draw, landed on his back right next to that brand new calf. It could have turned out ugly, with mama standing over my husband, but she just looked at him like WTH?!?!? So I named her Crash . Current bulls are Johnson, Woody & Willy. We've had Dick, Rod, Peter, MoLester . . .the list goes on. The implication is always a little salty but we can still refer to them by name in polite company.
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Post by tcranch on Jul 29, 2020 7:24:10 GMT -6
These are not the best pictures in the world. After I give them their bottle, they nurse off of each other. It is a bit odd! The first picture of the bull calf while the heifer is nursing him, Then I let her go on about her business and took her picture. The second is the heifer. I have a feeling that she will not be a free martin. All the other twins that I raised, the heifer really took on the look of a bull real fast. They get a really thick shoulder and neck with a thicker heavier face. Their back side is covered with quite a bit of hair that you will not see on a normal heifer. So far she does not show that wooly trait. These two were born on March 4th, 2020. How long do most of you keep orphan calves on a bottle. These will be 5 months old next month. They look good! How long I keep them on the bottle varies. My first bottle calf was not just a rejected twin, her mama tried to kill her. So I kept her at the barn with an orphan for company and bottle fed both until they were weaned with the other calves, about 6 months old. That said, I generally let them join the herd and they end up robbing, essentially weaning themselves off the bottle.
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Post by chuckie on Jul 29, 2020 7:44:02 GMT -6
That is funny about "Crash!" I bet it was a bit nerve wrecking as he slid down the hill as you were predicting the worse when he landed on the baby and mom. Still, it is something you can laugh about later.
The cows that leave here for the commercial herd do not get names. I have sent a cow there that was getting way too fat on clover pasture. I was afraid she would get so heavy that it would cause fertility problems. Her name is Kizzy. The bull at one of the farms, I call "Fat Boy." The other one I have never named.
I am thinking of swapping out Atlas for Fat Boy for a year or so. I would like to add his genetics back to my cows again. The herd here at the house usually consists of 10 cows and a bull. But we have about 60 -70 normally at the other two farms.
That is funny about the names for the bulls as they are right in line for their job description. I got tickled when I read Molester. I have always made a joke about parents naming their son Moe Lester. I am sure that that child would rather have the name Sue. Ha-ha!!
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