NW Illinois Stephenson county | My calves for many years would disagree with you statement "Calves generally aren't real enthusiastic about distillers". I had a grower ration formulated by my feed man that was at least 50% distillers with rolled corn, oats and a balancer pellet. The calves grew good on it without getting fat. I ran out of starter for the baby calves so I tried using some of the grower mix. They loved it. Some people raised concerns about sulfur levels, but I had no problems. The calves started on dry feed better than the starter pellet I had been using. It was kinda funny seeing all the calves golden orange noses from the distillers. At weaning the calves were already on the grower ration and did not have to adapt to any new feed. The heifers were the best milking 70-100+ lbs of milk at freshening. I understand about fines, but I would give baby calves fresh feed everyday or so and after they stated eating it they would clean it right up. I feel a little distillers in a starter ration is a good thing and worth a try. Good Luck! |
Homemade calf starter
