How to Feed a Newborn Calf

The quality of the nutrition you provide to your newborn calf is vital to its health and longevity as it grows into adolescence. Feeding your calf colostrum, the antibody-rich milk produced by a cow only immediately before and after she gives birth, is an important first step in assuring that your calf will have everything it needs in its first few hours of life. As the calf grows it can be steadily introduced to whole milk and eventually solid feed.

Things You'll Need

  • Bottle
  • Nipple
  • 5-gallon bucket
  • Colostrum
  • Tablespoon
  • Bleach
  • Thermometer
Show More

Instructions

    • 1

      Sanitize any bottles and nipples prior to feeding. Fill the nursing bottles with scalding water and a tablespoon of household bleach. Let this mixture sit in the bottle for a few minutes, or until the water has cooled enough to touch without burning your hands. When this temperature has been reached, poor the water out over your hands and the nipples being used for feeding. This will sanitize both your hands and all nursing equipment.

    • 2

      Fill the bottles with colostrum that is around 102 degrees. Calves suckle best when their milk is at their body temperature, which hovers at 102 degrees. This ensures that the calf's formula is neither too hot or too cold for the calf.

    • 3

      Fill a 5-gallon bucket half-full with water that is at a temperature of 120 degrees. Place the bottles in the warm water bath prior to walking to where the newborn calf is being housed. This ensures that the colostrum stays warm even after an extended period of time.

    • 4

      Walk towards the calf slowly and calmly in order to avoid spooking it. With deliberate movements, back the calf into a corner and loop an arm under its neck and across its chest. With the calf cornered and secured, the chance of it running away or being injured while feeding is much lower.

    • 5

      Ease the nipple of the bottle into the newborn calf's mouth. Keep the bottle angled at a low position that is comfortable for the calf. Pay close attention to the calf as it suckles the colostrum. If it chokes while feeding, readjust the bottle position so it is slightly below its head and try again.

    • 6

      Feed the calf colostrum every three to four hours for the first two to three weeks of its life. By avoiding large feedings all at once, the chances of the calf developing scours, or loose, diarrhea-like bowel movements, is much less.