Anyone own cattle? Would love some insight

The oldest calf, has a nice smooth shiny coat. The other two look as if they're coming out of winter. Especially the one, has a long dark coat.

Everyone gets fed the same. 16% protein all stock sweet feed. Which I've been told is fine and not fine. It was recommended by the guy at the feed store because when they were on calf starter they looked even worse.

Are you seeing grains coming through the calves in their manure?

I think the above poster gave you great advice when he said to go to grass and alfalfa hay. I think their rumen is under developed. A good dose of probiotics would probably do them a huge favor.

Concerning the hay they refuse to eat, my guess is the quality is lacking. These calves are probably not going to do any better as long as you keep them on the same pasture as the horses.

They were getting a good quality Timothy grass mix hay. But they would push it aside and just graze. I am going to do the probiotics and alfalfa and hope that helps. Thank you for the help.

Are you offering them 2nd cutting hay. I would have kept them on the bottle longer but that isn't so crazily young that it would cause them to be that thin. Did you say already what you wormed with and how much? Wormers are not an all in one fix you could easily be worming for the wrong thing. I would take a sample of manure to a vet to see if theres any nasties bogging them down.

CluckerLover said:

We never had twins but I have heard that they would be sterile. I hope that I was some help but I am by no means a professional. Please let me know if it helps.

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A heifer with a bull calf as a twin is likely sterile. The hormones from the bull calf inhibit normal development of the female reproductive tract. Same sex twins, meaning two bulls or two heifers, develop normally and are fertile.

Cowgirls Boots said:

I've tried the hay, they won't eat it. They leave it and go to graze. They were weaned at 2 months old just as the oldest calf. And weren't taken off milk until they were eating and drinking enough.

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If they are not eating the hay, chances are there is something wrong with it. Maybe it is moldy or too coarse. Also, there may be something in it they don't like, such as a weed or too much magnesium or something. That is something you cannot see but the calves can taste it. My cattle would eat good hay even when they had plenty of green pasture.

Are the calves doing any better now with the probiotics and alfalfa? Sorry I'm several days late..... My computer temporarily banned me from BYC, along with all other websites that require at least moderate internet speed. The joys of living out in the sticks!

Cowgirls Boots said:

They've been dewormed regularly and as recently as last month. They will be dewormed again soon.

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What are you using to deworm them? Safeguard for example is notorious for often not working anymore, due to overuse. Most wormers are also not "broad spectrum," i.e., the wormer you are using may not be effective for the certain worms they may have. Getting a fecal sample for your vet may be a good idea, and he can recommend a dewormer to you that will work for those certain worms. It could very well be too that they're not wormy, and that all they need is nutritional help. Giving them chemical dewormer when they don't need it is not helping them any, and in fact can be making them worse.

Cowgirls Boots said:

It goes out a good ways and is very long in some spots. It's not all grazed down like that.

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If your animals have grazed down most of your field that short, or even down to less than 1.5", then they have a real good reason for not eating the "long grass." For whatever reason it is not edible. Likely due to fescue toxicity, or growing in a semi-marshy or very shady area, or growing in a very manured area. Also, like a previous poster said, calves and cows have mouths that make it real difficult for them to graze down that short, horses can graze closer than cows. The calves aren't getting much at all from the pasture. Like another poster said, I'd also seriously consider rotational grazing. Constant high grazing pressure will quickly ruin a pasture. Once ruined, it takes a lot of dedication and effort and time to turn it back into a productive pasture again.

Cowgirls Boots said:

I've tried feeding hay in addition to the grass and they won't eat it and then my horses end up eating it because they leave it.

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At just three months old they need a really super high quality hay, the best you can find. Green, leafy, fine, smells very good, 2nd cutting or better. Make sure to smell it for mold, the hay should smell really good, not the least bit "off." A lot of hay, especially this year with all the rain, is moldy. Just because you don't see visible mold doesn't mean it's not moldy hay, it should smell very good. 2nd-4th cutting clover/grass mix or alfalfa/grass mix square bales would be ideal, these will have less stem than 1st cutting hay bales. If the calves are not eating the hay you offered them, then it's likely too course, low to moderate in nutrition, or moldy. I'd suggest getting some better quality hay and putting it in a homemade "creep feeder," to keep the horses out of it, since it's likely going to be kinda expensive and your horses will do just fine on lesser hay. You can google pics for a creep feeder. Basically it's a feeder that only allows access to small animals, keeping the big animals out. It's frequently used by beef cattle farmers to supplement nursing calves with feed to aide in weight gain, without the cows quickly eating it all up. There was a calf last winter that I wanted to supplement, in with several cows a bull and two horses, and my "creep feeder" was I wedged a piece of wood under a gate to a barn stall, to keep it open about 15 inches. I then used the chain latch and chained it to the latch post, so that no animals could force the gate open wider, and it also happened to be just high enough the calf could sneak under, but chest-height for everyone else, keeping them out. So every evening I'd give the calf a wafer of alfalfa or 2nd cutting clover/grass hay, she could eat it without worrying about being punted away by the larger animals, and could come and go as she pleased, it worked great.

I would also definitely give them some probiotics as you're doing, and a high quality mineral. If you can find "Wichman" mineral, that should make a real noticeable difference in their coats. We've been using it a few years now and it's definitely higher quality than the Purina mineral we'd been using. Within 6 weeks of switching the cows' and calves' coats became noticeably much shinier and healthier. Now, in conjunction with SEA-90 sea salt, the last two summers their coats have been super shiny glossy.

Quite honestly, the root of the problem is that the two calves were quite evidently weaned too young. Being twins, they were especially compromised. If it were me, I would try to get some milk into them, daily. I would try even offering them a bottle, and see if they'll take it, or soaking some alfalfa pellets with whole milk, and see what they do with that. Raw whole milk from a source you can trust would be best, but even store-bought whole milk would be worth a try.

cassie said:

A heifer with a bull calf as a twin is likely sterile.  The hormones from the bull calf inhibit normal development of the  female reproductive tract.  Same sex twins, meaning two bulls or two heifers, develop normally and are fertile.

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You are correct, they are called free martins. We had a pair of black angus twin calves. One male, one female.