If he's not banded yet, band him soon. It gets harder when they get bigger.

I have a longhorn cow, Praline, I breed to Angus bulls, 1 heiffer out of her from last year, that's solid black and a few month old black and white steer out of her from this year. She is 7 for 7 on sucessful calving so far.

Keith

I hope you got the milk replacer that he will need for several weeks. As they grow and change their diets and eat more and demand more room one's attitude toward the animal changes as well. Also from a practical aspect being herd animals they do much better in small groups say 2,3 or 4 then alone.

Bryce

The weather's the opposite here, I haven't mowed my lawn in a month, most of it's dead. Ranchers save a lot of extra bales in case of loss. They don't risk running out of hay and selling their stock. I'm just saying don't wait till last minute to buy hay in case it's hard to find. With the price Texas is paying for semi loads of good hay there is a high demand.

that's awesome and i'm jealous.rebuilding and cleaning my families farm of 100 plus years so the wife and i can be farmers too.getting close to startin to string fence finally but wanted everything done right before we got them.keep us updated.

Have you looked into buying hay and pellets for the winter yet? With the weather we've had during hay season it might be hard to find or expensive. He will also need access to water all day during the winter.

Congrat's something productive. Farming/livestock raising is a art & skill.
Good luck & God Love YA

Thanks man! I fed him a bottle of milk this morning. It was a bi***! I think I almost drowned him, but I think that’s the way to do it if they don’t want to drink?

Keith, does that mean tire him out? He did seem to pant a bit, but I gave him plenty of breaks. It took about 40 mins to drink 4 1/2 pints. I will feed him again this evening.

Aspiration is when you get milk or other fluid in the lungs. If he's panting, you probably did get some milk in his lungs. They can usually cough small amounts out. Aspiration can cause pneumonia.

Keith

What type of fence are you putting up?

If you're bottle feeding him, you need to make it as natural as if he's drinking from the mother. Don't force the nipple into his mouth, and when he's done, he's done. He'll let you know when he's hungry again.

I don't think I caught an age anywhere in the thread so far, but unless he's pretty young, you want to get him moving from a bottle to a bucket, otherwise, it's gonna feel like a rodeo every time you try to feed him.

When I worked on a veal farm, we would have to teach in batches of 75 head. Put the milk in the bucket, get them sucking on your fingers, lower their head into the bucket, make sure milk is getting sucked up and work your fingers out. By about number 20, your fingers were raw, but you had to keep going.

On banding- it's a one shot deal. Make sure you get both of the boys. Our last "steer" was really rammy and cantankerous and when we butchered him we found out why- he was still packing heat on the left hand side! Fortunately, he still cuts and eats tender, although I would have liked a bit more fat on him.

Great experience though! Love having a beef in the field.

Sounds like he is eating good. They make pails with nipples on that you can hang in his pen and fill with milk replacer. Did he get colostrum from his mom? You should watch him for scours if he didn't. It's quite deadly on young calves and usually happens in the first week.

Temperature is a big thing. Too cold, too warm- he'll refuse it. He'll seem hungry and waiting it, but will balk at it.
A cow's body temperature is slightly warmer than our, so it should just feel a tad warm on the wrist.

Woke up and decided I want to be a farmer Rancher! Went down the road and bought a calf! Life is good!

When do you plan to cut his throat and make steaks?

The fat does not taste right if you butcher a steer or cow to early. I would butcher him after 18 months sometime before 24 months. I have butchered 3 grass fed steers and greatly prefer corn finished for most cuts. I always corn finish now. The fat in the steaks is much better on corn finished beef.

Keith

Make sure to not feed him too much while on the bottle/bucket. They’ll act like they’re always starving, but thats okay. Feeding too much can lead to scours. Scours can lead to a dead calf.

Looking for an update on the calf! How's he doing? How are YOU doing?

We are picking up a Devon/Normande cross calf next week. Already weaned, so we don't have to do the bottle thing. Looking forward to having a bellowing idiot in the field again!

Find some small feeders and mount them in those neat airy pens. Put some really well blended calf pellets in there and get them eating grain and ruminating as quickly as you can. The grain will create the rumaen quicker than hay will when young. That will get them on a forage diet quicker which will be lower cost, less labor and healthy as well.

Bryce