Our Bobsey twins, Flossie and Freddie, continue to thrive, thanks to Mama Bobsey’s milk, the milk replacer supplement and grain. Bill estimates their weight at almost 300 pounds which is comparable to our other calves born at the same time.
Their increasing weight and push-‘n-shove enthusiasm when Bill arrives with the calf bottles prompted him to buy two calf bucket feeders—a bucket with a nipple inserted near the bottom. The buckets come with brackets that hang over the fence. For a calf, graduating from the bottle to the bucket is like a toddler going from a bottle to a sippy cup. But these calves don't sip, they gulp without coming up for air until the bucket is empty!
Bill introduced the twins to their new tableware before he went to the Kansas Livestock Annual Convention in Wichita early in December. I was the substitute supplement provider for a couple of days and Bill didn't want me to get trampled by the boisterous Bobsey’s stampeding to their breakfast table!
The feeding schedule also changed from twice a day to once a day. Each twin sucks down two quarts of milk replacer from their respective buckets and sometimes from each other’s, then they dive into a tub of grain, or "calf granola" as I call it. The term “dive” is almost literal, as Flossie decided she likes to eat with her front hooves in the tub.
Below are pictures showing their growth progress. The first one was taken October 16th of me bottle-feeding milk replacer while Mama Bobsey supervises. I gripped those bottles tight so the strong sucking motion wouldn't grab them out of my hands. On one occasion when Bill was feeding, Freddie sucked the nipple right off the bottle and got a face full of milk replacer!
The next two pictures were taken December 18th. In the first pic Mama stands on the other side of the fence while the twins suck from the buckets in their "breakfast nook". The second pic shows their "granola bowl", without Flossie’s feet in it and with Freddie wearing granola on his nose!
Their increasing weight and push-‘n-shove enthusiasm when Bill arrives with the calf bottles prompted him to buy two calf bucket feeders—a bucket with a nipple inserted near the bottom. The buckets come with brackets that hang over the fence. For a calf, graduating from the bottle to the bucket is like a toddler going from a bottle to a sippy cup. But these calves don't sip, they gulp without coming up for air until the bucket is empty!
Bill introduced the twins to their new tableware before he went to the Kansas Livestock Annual Convention in Wichita early in December. I was the substitute supplement provider for a couple of days and Bill didn't want me to get trampled by the boisterous Bobsey’s stampeding to their breakfast table!
The feeding schedule also changed from twice a day to once a day. Each twin sucks down two quarts of milk replacer from their respective buckets and sometimes from each other’s, then they dive into a tub of grain, or "calf granola" as I call it. The term “dive” is almost literal, as Flossie decided she likes to eat with her front hooves in the tub.
Below are pictures showing their growth progress. The first one was taken October 16th of me bottle-feeding milk replacer while Mama Bobsey supervises. I gripped those bottles tight so the strong sucking motion wouldn't grab them out of my hands. On one occasion when Bill was feeding, Freddie sucked the nipple right off the bottle and got a face full of milk replacer!
The next two pictures were taken December 18th. In the first pic Mama stands on the other side of the fence while the twins suck from the buckets in their "breakfast nook". The second pic shows their "granola bowl", without Flossie’s feet in it and with Freddie wearing granola on his nose!
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