Question

[Faster horses]

Years ago, Watkins used to make a powdered calf electrolyte, that worked wonders on getting calves to start sucking It came in a plastic bucket, with a little scoop in it.
A few years ago, we bought a 4 day old calf at the salebarn. Never could get her to take a bottle, but she would drink from a bucket, sorta. She was on full grain for over 2 years, before we butchered her. Wasn't the most cost effective beef we ever had, but it was sure good, and tender.

We had the same kind of deal. A heifer calf that would NOT suck anything. So we bucket broke her. She wasn't the biggest calf in the fall by any means, but she was okay. We needed to build numbers so we kept her as a replacement. She bred up fine and stayed in the herd a long time. That was back around 1970. Would we do the same thing today???? Not sure. But it worked once...

I've always heard that if a calf drinks from a bucket on the ground, they are more apt to look "poddy" (which is not a flattering term). If they drink from a nipple that is up in the air, like from a cow's udder, they develop in more natural fashion.

That could be true, but it's been my experience that 'poddy bellies' had something to do with poor milk replacer. We always bought the best milk replacer because it paid off in the end. Remember how hard that good replacer was to mix up?

At any rate, drinking from a bucket kept them going. It was better than the alternative. Luckily I can only remember that one incident of not ever getting a calf to suck something.