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We use milk replacer. But I personally cannot understand why you would not take advantage of that first few days milk that is not salable anyways. A few minutes with a belly milker (surge etc..) can save you a lot of money and issues with calf scours in those first few weeks.
As far as runty goes, I have to say I have seen it. All milk replacers are not created equally. There are some really cheap ones available out there and calves do not thrive on it the same way. Buying second rate replacer costs you far more in the end.
The key difference in our situation is that orphaned calves, or those with sick mommas, may not be seen or noticed for a couple of days. The cattle are all out on the range, and pretty wild, so illness isn't apparent early on. Being off milk for just that time affects them for the rest of their life.