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Author Topic: Orphan Dexter, how much to feed  (Read 3190 times)

Lilljoho

  • Joined Mar 2013
Orphan Dexter, how much to feed
« on: December 03, 2016, 08:10:06 pm »
Hi

I have an orphaned Dexter calf he's tiny probably 10-15kg. I gave him colostrum for the first 2days now he's on milk replacer.
I'm feeding 2litres a day but today him seems starving.
He's 4days old now


Backinwellies

  • Global Moderator
  • Joined Sep 2012
  • Llandeilo Carmarthenshire
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Re: Orphan Dexter, how much to feed
« Reply #1 on: December 04, 2016, 07:39:57 am »
Larger breeds get up to 2 litres twice a day so I'm sure Dexters would be ok on at least 2/3 of that.   However too much milk at once will cause scour so increase gradually.  Hay and calf mix should be a available for calf adlib
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Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: Orphan Dexter, how much to feed
« Reply #2 on: December 04, 2016, 09:50:21 am »
Straw is better than hay - it stimulates the rumen better.

landroverroy

  • Joined Oct 2010
Re: Orphan Dexter, how much to feed
« Reply #3 on: December 04, 2016, 11:19:05 am »
Hi

I have an orphaned Dexter calf he's tiny probably 10-15kg. I gave him colostrum for the first 2days now he's on milk replacer.
I'm feeding 2litres a day but today him seems starving.
He's 4days old now

 What's the problem?
 You don't mention that he's scouring, so presumably he's taking his milk alright? So when you say he's starving - do you mean he's very hungry at each feed? If that's the case, then I would give him more, possibly more frequently rather than increasing the volume at each feed. Don't forget that a calf feeding off his mother or from an automatic feeder would take milk as and when with no restriction 
Rules are made:
  for the guidance of wise men
  and the obedience of fools.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Orphan Dexter, how much to feed
« Reply #4 on: December 04, 2016, 05:49:45 pm »
Ex-BH bought calves to bucket rear for years.  Usually Hereford crosses out of Friesians.  He'd give them 2-3L three times a day to one month old, then get them onto two feeds a day. 

Your Dexter is quite a bit smaller, of course, but 2L a day sounds very little to me, plus at only 4 days old I think he needs more feeds, at least three if not 4 in a 24 hour period.

Personally I would add a third feed, and probably up the daily total to at least 3L, if not 4.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Marches Farmer

  • Joined Dec 2012
  • Herefordshire
Re: Orphan Dexter, how much to feed
« Reply #5 on: December 05, 2016, 04:54:25 pm »
I suggest putting him in a calf jacket and giving him at least four feeds a day until you're happy he's thriving.  If you can manage it five would be better, the first one as early as possible and the last one as late as possible so he doesn't have a long stretch feeling hungry overnight.

landroverroy

  • Joined Oct 2010
Re: Orphan Dexter, how much to feed
« Reply #6 on: December 05, 2016, 07:27:16 pm »
 A calf jacket is fine for calves living outside to protect them from wind and rain. But where the calf is inside and presumably well sheltered, it serves little purpose. It actually flattens the coat, so removing the insulating layer of air that is naturally trapped between the skin and the exterior. A nice thick bed of straw would be more effective in keeping the animal warm. 
Rules are made:
  for the guidance of wise men
  and the obedience of fools.

Lilljoho

  • Joined Mar 2013
Re: Orphan Dexter, how much to feed
« Reply #7 on: December 05, 2016, 09:36:25 pm »
Thanks

For replies.

Calf is doing great. I think he maybe has just learnt meal times and sees me as food, I've upped is milk slightly, I was just worried about him scouring.  I've put out some calf pellets/water/hay and straw.
Instructions on milk replacer are 4litres for a 45kg calf a day.

I can't do more feeds so as work full time as well as doing my animals.
 

landroverroy

  • Joined Oct 2010
Re: Orphan Dexter, how much to feed
« Reply #8 on: December 05, 2016, 09:40:38 pm »
 That's great! Glad he's doing well.
 They are actually surprisingly resilient, but you can't help but worry when they look so small and vulnerable.
Rules are made:
  for the guidance of wise men
  and the obedience of fools.

Marches Farmer

  • Joined Dec 2012
  • Herefordshire
Re: Orphan Dexter, how much to feed
« Reply #9 on: December 06, 2016, 09:36:01 am »
Study published in Farmers Guardian a few weeks ago found housed calves in jackets had a consistently higher DLWG (daily live weight gain) compared to those without. 

The survival rate of our lambs has improved to 100% since putting the small or otherwise vulnerable ones in a jacket for their first few days.

Bramham Wiltshire Horns

  • Joined Oct 2014
  • leeds
  • Bramham flock Wiltshire Horns
Re: Orphan Dexter, how much to feed
« Reply #10 on: December 06, 2016, 09:42:03 am »
interested to learn more about the lamb jackets
follow on FB@BramhamWiltshireHorns

landroverroy

  • Joined Oct 2010
Re: Orphan Dexter, how much to feed
« Reply #11 on: December 06, 2016, 11:41:48 am »
Study published in Farmers Guardian a few weeks ago found housed calves in jackets had a consistently higher DLWG (daily live weight gain) compared to those without. 

The survival rate of our lambs has improved to 100% since putting the small or otherwise vulnerable ones in a jacket for their first few days.

There are so many variables in raising calves MF and I must admit I made some assumptions.
The literature from "Cosy Calf" (manufacturer of calf jackets) states that where the calf is in a sheltered pen with deep dry straw then heat losses are minimal. I assumed that the Dexter calf would be kept in somewhat similar conditions as he was a once off and receiving personal attention. Yes I agree calf jackets have their place in commercial production as where there are several animals sharing the pen then the bedding is more likely to get trodden down and wet and lose its insulating properties. But this isn't a commercial scenario and I was giving advice based on the situation that was occurring last weekend.
So - I'm by no means slagging off calf jackets! What I was trying to do was answer Lilljoho's post, which I took to be about a calf that was hungry - there was no mention of it being cold.  I was therefore trying to make the point that to try and source a calf jacket at the weekend was not necessarily the solution. And had the problem been that the calf was cold, I would actually have suggested packing it with hot water bottles (any plastic watertight bottles would do.) - which to me is a more practical and immediately do-able solution than waiting till Monday which would be the earliest you could purchase a calf jacket.
Rules are made:
  for the guidance of wise men
  and the obedience of fools.

 

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