My daughter wants a calf. She wants to bottle feed it (just for fun) will it drink from a bottle (if just taken from mother 2 months old) and can you give it milk from the grocery store?
Will it get sick (diahhrea) from this milk?
Don't trust necessarily that I will get the truth from the cow man. He may say what I want to hear, not the reality.
2006-10-12 06:34:33 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Other - Pets
We live on 30 acres
2006-10-13 03:20:27 · update #1
Geez...take her on a field trip to the country
2006-10-12 06:39:48 · answer #1 · answered by woooh! 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Worked on a farm for a long time, yes the calf will drink from a bottle. You can get one at a feed store, a normal baby bottle won't work. It's made for an infant, not a calf. Expect to be nugged around a little while feeding.
No don't use milk from a grocery store by any means. It's not meant for the calves. Go to a feed store and buy powered milk just for calves. We've used this for all our calves. It's important that any calf has the first milk from the mother cow, this is called colostrum.
We feed the calves the powered milk from the feed store for 6 months, maybe more.
It's just like formula for babies.
2006-10-12 13:49:40 · answer #2 · answered by che_mar_cody 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
UMM, I THINK YOU NEED TO DO QUITE A BIT OF RESEARCH ON WHAT THE NEEDS OF A COW ARE BEFORE YOU ACTUALLY BRING ONE INTO YOUR FAMILY AND IT HAS TO RELY ON YOU TO TAKE CARE OF IT.... BUT THE FACT THAT YOU ARE INQUIRING ABOUT SUCH THINGS IS A GOOD SIGN!! TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION, NO, CALVES CAN NOT HAVE THE MILK FROM THE GROCERY STORE, IT WILL DO MORE THAN JUST MAKE THE POOR LITTLE THING HAVE DIAREHA. YOU NEED TO GO TO A FEED STORE, OR EVEN SOMETHING LIKE TRACTOR SUPPLY AND GET THE FORMULA. THEN, YOU WILL MIX THE POWDER WITH VERY WARM WATER, SHAKE IT UP, AND FEED THAT BABY. THEY WILL ALSO NEED TO BE FED AT LEAST 3 TIMES A DAY... GOOD LUCK!
2006-10-12 15:28:28 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
at two months old, the calf will be eating on its own. When my husband gets his calves for the FFA ( Futrue Farmers of America) students he teaches they are 2- 3 months old and eating normal adult food. You need to get milk directly from the cow in order to feed it. Unless you live near a dairy it will not work. It will not drinik from a bottle unless you get it at a day old. And no one will sell you a day old calf. A calf taken from it's mom at 2 months old ( even though if she allows it the calf will nurse) will not take a bottle.
Your best bet is just to get a calf that is a couple months old 4-5 months old and raise it up. She should join the 4-H and then she can sell it at fair and get some money for it.
2006-10-12 13:55:48 · answer #4 · answered by LITTLE 1 :o) 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋
At two months it'll be eating hay, & grain. AT 6 it'll weigh 400-500 lbs. what are you gonna do with it?
Pasterised store milk could do but probably the powder would be a better bet.
PS I feed calves 2x day for 10 years farming & they did fine.
2006-10-12 16:35:29 · answer #5 · answered by ragapple 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
My nephew uses this site for his bottle fed calves. He said regular milk is not the best for them and they should have bovine. He said its sold at all feed stores. Good luck.
2006-10-12 13:46:17 · answer #6 · answered by Devils_Advocate 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
go to this site and it will have your answers. You do the reading.
http://www.ask.com/web?q=bottle+feeding+calves&qsrc=0&o=0&l=dir
2006-10-12 13:44:55 · answer #7 · answered by mysticideas 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋