Northeast Nebraska and Candelaria Philippines | Yes, i have a milk master still. I'd just never made it up north like i thought i would. Are you still interested? I think it's a 45 gallon or so one if i remember. Give me a call at 402-360-2626.
On giving calves hay.... Beef calves are on milk for maybe 180 days. With beef calves early rumen development is not as important as it is on dairy calves. The sooner the rumen is fired up, the sooner the calf can nurish itself with dry feed and be off milk. If you take a calf off milk before it's ready, it will be weak, and more prone to illness. Getting the rumen developed was our #1 goal when we raised calves. (We had 300 on milk at any given time) Things we did to increase rumen development was bottle feed warm water. Water is very important in developing the rumen, and stimulating the appitate. We actually used blue ribbon electrolite in the bottle fed water. This also has probitics in it.
So now to the reason not to feed hay. The rumen is developed buy VFA (volital fatty acids) VFA's are low in grass and hay. VFA's are high in corn and oats. By getting water and grain into the rumen, it advanced rumen development. If you feed milk in buckets, you should be putting a handful of grain in the bucket after the milk is gone by 1 week of age. Better yet, if you have time, force a handful in there mouth untill they develop a liking for it. |
Dairy calf steers
