Welcome to Waitetuna

Hey all. Myself my wife, daughter and mum in law have all just moved onto a 36 acre block in the Waitetuna Valley on Old Mountian Rd..how cools that road name We're looking to regenerate the Manga kirri kirri stream that runs through our place and get to a level of sustainability where by the super market no longer takes such a huge chunk of the weekly spend.
Mother in law Kim is managing the garden and chooks amazingly so we currently have a ready supply of veg and eggs. We have a hogger and lamb in the paddocks along with 3 heifers…one of which will soon join the hogger into the freezer.
Just wanted to give some comment on the Theileria tick menace that is going around in cattle at the moment. I am a meat buyer and I recently attended a field day at one of the North Islands leading research farms. A scientist from Massey who has been researching and the disease and a vet who has been treating affected animals made the following comments/observations; disease strikes cattle only and mainly those who are under high stress i.e. calving cows or young calves, initial signs are poor condition and pale areas around the cows back end, treatment can be through a specific medication only available from your vet and in extreme cases blood transfusion. When buying cows be aware that cows with blue ear tags have been expopsed/treated for theileria but not all those treated have been tagged. Most importantly if you think your cattle have this disease call your vet.

Welcome to LSB. How lovely that MIL lives with you AND is so helpful in the garden . Best wishes on the block - yes, cool street name!

Hi Spartangreg, welcome to the site. Sounds like you're well on your way to reducing supermarket profits, LOL. Great to hear that you're regenerating part of the stream - will be so satisfying to see it return to good health. Would love to see some before and after photos.
Cheers, Mich.

I did not think you had much of a tick problem out there? We are on the way into HN, via Tuhikaramea road, and use to have a 870 acre farm out at where the Bridal Veil falls are situated on the way to Raglan.

Hi to Waitetuna....from another newbie. I admit I'm cheating a bit...being an ex Hamiltonian now living west of Melbourne near Ballarat in Victoria Australia, but Im hoping to get the latest and greatest from my home country!

I have 40 acres and 24 Lowline cows...gorgeous Mums and babies.
I am into my second year of breeding and all is going/has gone well but this year when I wean I want to keep two or three calves on a bottle for a while to make them more domesticated. They are all pretty good around people but those that had been handled by the breeder as young ones are the 'leaders' of my herd...bringing the others into that yards etc with little or no fear of me. I want to preserve this trend into the next generation!
So a couple of questions:
The calves are 7 months old and eating grass and hay well.
Have I left it too late this year?

If I can bottle feed, how much milk do I need to give them...and is ordinary cows milk OK or would I need a formula?

Thanks! looking forward to your wisdom!

Mardi

Hi Mardi, and welcome. Cows milk from straight out of the cow is best. Never feed calves cows milk that has been processed for humans.
I suspect that you will find that teaching calves this old will be nearly impossible. When I tried on 6 to 8 week old Hereford heifers, I could only teach one of the four. That was using a plastic bottle with a teat attachment. I put the calf's head into the headbale, stood in front to lift the chin up and more-or-less poured the milk into the mouth. When I used to raise newborns on a calfetaria with tubes, I could stand over the calf to force it to take the teat, but I suspect your calves will be too big.
My suggestion to get them a bit quieter is to lock them in the cattle yards, and feed them good quality hay and pellets. Teaching some cattle to eat calf pellets also requires a bit of forcefeeding at the start. They should start quietening down after 4 or 5 days, and be able to be released after about a week. Then keep feeding them pellets for a month or so, at the same time each day, after rattling the bucket so that they come to you.
Don't make them too tame. A tame cow is nearly as dangerous as a tame bull. They sneak up behind you and play bunting games with your hips or knees, or give an almighty push on your back as a reminder for you to give them a rub. Also, there will come a time when they need to be euthanased. It's very difficult to euthanase a pet.

The tick problem has occurred recently after being found in Northland in late 2011