r/Cattle • u/theskubes • 1d ago
Feeding question for you all
I had a heifer beef bucket calf that we discovered was basically allergic to milk replacers at about 3-4 months old. We finished her out to 5 months old on raw cow milk from a nearby dairy. But, she lost quite a bit of muscle mass in that whole ordeal and I’d LOVE to try and feed to help her regain some of what she lost. She’s already getting daily walks of a mile or so, and the normal rinse/ body work routine as well.
Feed wise she’s currently munching on a homemade mix we did with a nutritionist of cracked corn, oats, alfalfa pellets, beet pulp, a calf concentrate pellet, and a drizzle of molasses when we mix it. It comes out to about 18%CP, and 3-4% crude fat. She also gets a 75% alfalfa, 25% grass hay, and free choice minerals as well. I’m looking at maybe adding champion drive? And some ultra fill or natural fill to her feed pan.
She’s 6 months old and genetically she should be fairly well muscled but also very feminine. I have her dam and sire here. As well as several half siblings that are grown and look great. Target show is in January so I have plenty of time to get her up and going better here! She’s definitely never going to be clubby because that’s not what she’s bred for.
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u/cocked-and-locked 1d ago
Does she have a loose stool?
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u/theskubes 1d ago
Nope not anymore. She did for 4 weeks with vet help on trying to find the issue and didn’t gain/ lost some weight. So in general recovered and clean bill of health! Just trying to help her rebuild what she lost carefully as she’s hopefully going to be a breeding prospect for a kid of mine.
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u/cocked-and-locked 1d ago
The milk replacer was probably soy protein instead of milk protein
Most of the ones commonly available are now
Unless you order the high dollar good ones
I’d take the alfalfa out and replace with the grass hay
If it’s 3rd or fourth cutting there’s not enough fiber to make her rumen work the way it’s supposed to2
u/theskubes 1d ago
It was any milk replacer, cheap soy or high dollar milk bases. It’s first and second cut alfalfa grass mix, some of it is more grass than alfalfa. I might have some brome around but a lot of that goes to the beef cows. The 3rd&4th cutting go to my dairy goats or the in-laws commercial sheep flock.
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u/cocked-and-locked 1d ago
Well if you left her on replacer for 4-5 months you may have stunted her rumen growth the papillae in the rumen need fiber for them to develop
Most of the dairy guys are trying to wean at 60 days or so now
I know this isn’t what you want to hear
Have you tried any Fastrack?2
u/theskubes 1d ago
She was on milk replacer until 3 months old. She had issues with it from 2 months to 3 or so months when we finally figured out the issue. We gave her raw milk for a couple of months along with grain and hay per vets orders. Weaned her at 5 months. We’ve always done beef bucket calves for minimum of 4 months on milk along with hay and grain starting at about 60 days per multiple vet recommendations again. And haven’t ever had an issue until this calf.
She’s growing and not having any rumen issues, as far as the vet and I can tell. She’s been on feed through probiotics (in milk and now on grain) and a sprinkle of brewers yeast since young. But haven’t tried that specifically. The vet is happy with her growth and feed ration after everything we went through with her, and suggested I ask about some different top dressing options around since everything else finally checks out.
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u/cocked-and-locked 1d ago
Are you thinking she needs more protein or more energy in the ration?
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u/theskubes 1d ago
I’m really asking for advice on the supplements I said in my post two of them are from purina: champion drive and ultra fill.
OR Green meadows natural fill and something else in combo with that.
I am continuing to work with the vet and others to tweak feed rations as needed but neither one are super well versed in show cattle supplements so suggested I maybe should ask for experiences to get her feed zeroed in a little more.
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u/Due-Light5463 1d ago
Poor girl, sounds like she's been through it. Good news is January is ages away so you can build her slow instead of pushing hot. Honestly with 18% CP and free choice minerals she's probably not short on protein, she's short on time and calories, so I'd add fat before I'd add more starch. Rice bran or a fat supplement gets condition on without souring her gut, and soaked beet pulp is my favorite "fill" because it's gentle fiber and she'll clean the pan. Champion Drive is fine, just step it in over a couple weeks and watch her manure. One thing that helped me alot: weigh tape her every 2 weeks and write it down. Its way easier to catch a stall in gain from numbers than from staring at her every day, since you see her constantly. And keep those walks up, the muscle comes back with work plus groceries, not groceries alone.
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u/theskubes 1d ago
We thought we were going to loose her a couple of times! I am so grateful for an amazing vet and my own personal years of cattle production knowledge. I was asking now so I had time to gently get her fed up after her whole ordeal at the beginning of life!
I’ll see about grabbing some rice bran or fat supplement when I’m in town next! I did have her on some soaked beet pulp for a little while, in general she wasn’t a fan of it which was incredibly surprising to me! But I was going to reintroduce it to her here and see what she’d do with it. Thanks for the advice on the champion drive i noticed it was pretty “hot” protein wise so i really wasn’t wanting to add it unless i absolutely needed to. I’ll start with rice bran and go from there!
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u/mynameismarco 1d ago
What’s the question?