Teaching a calf to drink milk from a bucket

getting a calf to drink from a bucket can be a tricky job, here's a video showing you how I do it.
To see more videos filmed on our farm click here to visit my KZbin channel / thefunkyfarmer

[@sherischneider2672]

I always wondered why bottle fed calves would do better than bucket fed calves. I finally found the reason many years back. The reason is that the bottle fed milk follows a little groove and and bypasses the rumen. This sends the milk to go were it is supposed to and not sit in the rumen and ferment. The digestive enzymes are also a factor. In college a student was actually able to find his groove on a baby antelope dissection and looked up its function. I was lucky enough to know the function of this channel before this, but it was nice to see it confirmed.

[@Maven0666]

Everything you said here is ridiculous. It doesn’t matter if it’s bucket or bottle. If the milk isn’t digesting there’s a problem in the cow itself. Not how it was fed. (40 years experience).

[@LuizFelipe-lk1hs]

Thanks I was looking a practical example after seeing someone saying that's how it is done

[@carbost999]

i found this video very helpful as we have hellish hassle tying to get our orphan beef calfs to drink from the bucket! this helped a lot and i manage to get them drinking no bother using this technique!

[@thefunkyfarmer]

Glad it worked for you Nathan, also helps if they are a bit hungry when you teach them

[@thefunkyfarmer]

That's a relief

[@thefunkyfarmer]

It should take to the bucket in a couple of days. If it hadn't sucked the cow for 5 days it will be starving so should drink very quickly

[@Antonyzetor]

nice calfs we had a coupe like that this year merry xmas keep vids coming in2014 always good to see over farmers in the country

[@thefunkyfarmer]

cheers Antony

[@thefunkyfarmer]

That happens to us sometimes William, I hope it all turns out ok

[@jenniferpoehlke8676]

This is helpful! Thank you!

[@thefunkyfarmer]

thankyou, no snow here yet just lots of rain. merry xmas

[@exileinderby51]

You need the patience of a saint to train calves to drink from a bucket!

[@thefunkyfarmer]

too right

[@123teasy]

merry xmas to a fellow dairy farmer wishing all the best to u and your family for 2014 great videos to watch

[@thefunkyfarmer]

thank you David, wishing you a merry xmas from Gloucestershire

[@c_weave28]

Is this term called “drinking with fingers”?

[@farmerwillmellor510]

How long does it normally take to put a calf on a bucket when it has already been sucking a cow? I have got a calf that won't drink from a bucket or from a bottle and hasn't sucked a cow for 5 days and its only 2 weeks old do you thing it will get the hang of it if I keep trying?

[@farmerwillmellor510]

Just a very stubern calf that does like being fed, it is eating hay and corn and drinking water so won't be starving, do you get any that have problems drinking milk

[@FleckviehFarmer]

merry christmas to you and your family richard!! all the best for 2014 - and keep the videos coming ;) greetings from snowy austria!

[@Maven0666]

My calf just flat out refuses the bucket.

[@farmerwillmellor510]

Nice calves great vid keep them coming, merry xmas

[@lewispg4352]

Nice vid but is that milk pink?

[@lilybrown4188]

Pigarus UK it's pink because it's blood pink from another cow.

[@lilybrown4188]

It's blood from another cows milk

[@NoctiDraws]

Explain to me why that would be blood? The lighting in the room is red, giving the milk a pinkish look. Also, that milk may be colostrum, which is a yellow-cream colour. Colostrum is the first milk a cow will produce and contains all the antibodies and nutrients will need for the first few days of its life.

[@balmesh]

Nice one. You need a lot of patience for that job.

[@thefunkyfarmer]

its certainly a tricky job, especially as they have sharp teeth

[@balmesh]

Hey, you're reminding me of the time I got bitten by a lamb! Trying to get him to suck (it was an orphan) and he wouldn't - and then he drew blood!

[@farmerwillmellor510]

I have got a couple of calves that look very similar to these, but mine are montbeliard x heifers

[@logster04]

Did your lights go out

[@michelleyoung1849]

do you ever milk the blue crosses

[@thefunkyfarmer]

No we always sell them, I don't think they would make great milkers

[@1calledwolf]

I've been doing this for 2.5 years. Had a calf bucket trained for a month. She stopped drinking. To prevent starvation I bottle fed her. She'll drink from a bottle just fine, but still refuses the bucket. She's over a month old, over half way to weaning. Not sure how to get her to stop wanting special attention.

[@thefunkyfarmer]

1calledwolf thats tricky, some calves will never drink milk from a bucket in my experience. I guess you will have to keep bottle feeding here or get her on a teat till she eats enough solids

[@1calledwolf]

I found the reason this morning. Though limited, it appears she is pigging out on grain. Will have to bottle feed her through weening.

[@dr.urmila4796]

Leave it to her mother ? :)

[@hywelisthebest]

what is your procedure with calves. Where I do relief milking we pipe feed colostrum at birth, then we bottle feed maybe once or twice to get them used to teats, then barrel feed as a group (a chemical barrel with lots of teats on it).

[@thefunkyfarmer]

Hi. As we only have a small number of cows and calve all year round we keep the calves on the cows longer than most farms(about 2 weeks). After which we sell the males and rear on the females. At this age we train the calves to drink from a bucket ( like in this video) and at the same time allow them access to solid food

[@hywelisthebest]

Right o. Yes com in from an april calving farm it would be a tad different

[@hywelisthebest]

Back in the calving season I could feed 80 calves in 20 minutes. Would get a huge yoghurt type tub bin on the trailer up to the calvin shed from the first few rows in th parlour, then use and automated pump system to fill the barrels. A super job

[@kaliprasadrai8275]

Wow,Sir,Thats very Nice.

[@KhalilAhmed-tl2ng]

Very good mate

[@illynkimura1015]

In japan where I work we used feeding tube in a bucket . Feeding bucket tube first . Just like the tit of the cow mom because they are newly born but when they are older they will learn to drink in a bucket. Sometimes only some calf do not drink still and it will take a day. Then they will drink in a bucket with a feeding tube. It usually really works out.

[@yaso174]

this happens when the baby calfs separated from their mom for production issues like cheese and cream so sad the calf not allowed to suck milk from their mom and after born by an hour they get separated

[@williambeattie8554]

+Yaser Barakeh Tell me, have you seen what happens to a calf when it is stepped on by its mother?

[@bobmurica4174]

He said that the calves wouldn't suckle their mothers so he HAD to bucket feed them. I don't think he separated them by choice.

[@tom4412]

Yaser Barakeh I think perhaps you need to watch the video again, only this time listen more carefully to the farmer in the introduction. Thanks

[@Monhaven98]

Woooow Amazing

[@chrisbennett1701]

Love the accent

[@farmerwillmellor510]

Managed to get it to suckle this morning after 6 days with out milk thank god

[@thefunkyfarmer]

No luckily not

[@farmerwillmellor510]

Only reason it is not sucking a cow is that the cow has rejected it

[@illynkimura1015]

very cool.................

[@lewispg4352]

Merry Christmas btw.

[@gordon15751]

Are they bull or heifer calves and if they are heifers will you keep them they are so cute

[@thefunkyfarmer]

these are bull calves and they will go to market in a week or so

[@lilybrown4188]

Why is she drinking blood milk?

[@thefunkyfarmer]

Its called Colostrum and comes from cows that have recently given birth.It's entirely natural

[@Rdrake1413]

My dad taught me that.

[@ap-nr3zi]

you remember what you did when you were few days old?

[@hammadhashmi6159]

Why u separate it from mother te'll the answer ... if u I have infantchild and if it separate from u what u will do . U are such a selfishman to separate calf from mother for ur own business.. shame on u

[@tom4412]

Hammad Hashmi the calves would have starved to death within 36 hours if they had been left with their mother. Perhaps watch the video again, only this time listen more carefully especially in the beginning.

[@dr.urmila4796]

@@tom4412 are you kidding? Calf drinks milk from their mothers okay? If only you would stop stealing that milk and separating the baby from it's mother

[@tom4412]

sam ay my comment above also applies to you. Try watching the video again, listening more carefully this time.