Also on haylage and fodder beet
Lots of calves dieing
- Thread starter Shortarse
- Start date
BELOWAVERAGE
Member
They're not getting enough decent food, they need some concentrates as well at that age.
Yep they r on this old grain from brewery
matthew
Member
- Location
- Cornwall, SW England
Brewers grains are a by product, not calf feed. Get some decent coarse ration and read up on nutrition.
- Location
- East Ayrshire
Does sound as if it could be nutritional but can't be much of a vet if they haven't already queried the possibility.
But Vets aren't normally qualified as nutritionists. They spend more time in lectures at Vet School on how to fleece old ladies than on animal nutrition.
Plain steer
Member
this sounds like a hobby farmer
Just shows what lack of sleep does! I actually meant Cryptosporidiosis although they sound a bit old for that and a sh*t test would soon prove it, but hey, blame Covid .. every firm I deal with blames that for every missing or late order etc!What's your definition of a hobby farmer? Did you drop out as an already expert farmer? Maybe he's just starting out?
Skintagain
Member
- Location
- Perched on the Pennines
You want your arse kicking tbh
Sorry m8 ...this was my first batch of cattle .... even tho its brewery grain it has rolled barley and oats I didn't clarify that I can upload a picture of the product ... not very good at putting words together.... I hav vet on Tuesday coming to take sh!t and blood samples... I am thinking its still this naval infection....I had them on a 5 day course of antibiotics from vet.. look like its back ...as from dairy farm, calves are taken away at day old so the regular licking and cleaning from a mother cow is not their, where as with beef suckler you wouldn't get this problem, I didn't know this at the time but it looks like this is what my calves have. Hopefully makes sence. I'm still learning so I do apprisiate the help I hav gotten
Skintagain
Member
- Location
- Perched on the Pennines
Stop trying to feed them on the cheap. They will succumb to everything going if they aren’t thriving. Sorry for being harsh
Martyn
Member
- Location
- South west
Can you go to to your local agricultural store tomorrow and buy a few 25kg bags of a calf pellet/youngstock cake. If they are calves that have had a shocking start they will need their hand holding all the way till 12-15months. I would sit down with an Ag vet and go through a sensible protocol for further purchasing.
Just for reference to feed quality we have dairy bred calves here on decent silage and 2.5kg cake each a day. These are August September dairy bred Angus heifers. Also have steers but they are in a shed next to the finishing unit so on wheat, wholecrop, red clover silage and grass silage. More complicated than what id like but it fits with the other bigger cattle there are getting.
Sounds like you need a mentor whilst you get going to lend you a ear and experience.
Which area are you in? If your near here I’d be happy to help.
Sounds like you need a mentor whilst you get going to lend you a ear and experience.
Which area are you in? If your near here I’d be happy to help.
- Location
- Pembrokeshire
Naval problem is more a lack of quality colostrum than being licked clean
- Location
- West Wales
Yes definitely, I know plenty of farms where calves have the first drink and then taken off to the rearing pens and thrive with no naval problems and very little problems at all considering how many their doing.
How long have the calves been on this cheap ration?
How many are in each pen?
We used to do a lot a calves in batches of 16, in pens of 2, all bought from the marts.
2 litres morning and night of powdered milk until 12 weeks.
Ad lib calf pellets and straw for eating until 12 weeks and then 6 weeks of ad lib straw with some pellets but can’t remember how much given and then at 18 weeks introduce silage/haylage from the finishing farm they went to at 20 weeks.
Out of well over 1,000 calves we had 2 die.
If your vet can't diagnose a lack of nutrition I'd look for another one.
They may not be as up to speed on everything like a nutritionist but they should have more than a basic understanding, ours do anyway
- Location
- Scottish Highlands
What exactly are you feeding them and how much/ often at what age? Give product brand and quantities, not photos or descriptions. You can’t get helpful advice if you’re being vague.
- Location
- East Ayrshire
That crossed my mind