Calves that refuse to eat

[SpiceCattleCo]

We have a pen of 3 heifer calves being usd as 4-H heifers this summer. The first show is the beginning of July. The calves were born the first week of January of this year.

They get tied every afternoon (3:30 pm) and untied each night (8:00 pm), we leave them with 18% calf starter for that time period and they don't eat it. We have switched the feed and still no change.

The rest of the time they are with their mothers and have a creep feeder with the same grain in it, they do not eat any of that either.

I have tried feeding them with their mother's and they just seem disinterested in eating grain.

These calves need to gain 200+lbs. by the first of July...any suggestions?

 

[savaged]

I would go ahead and separate them from the cows for the majority of the day, and bring the cows to them to let them nurse once each morning and night.  As they start on the grain (put the feeder in the middle of their pen - water too -  so they won't be as likely to walk in it as they pace the pen) gradually wean them entirely from the cow.  They will eat eventually if the feed is fresh.

 

[OH Breeder]

Not sure if the calf starter is a pellet or grain mixture. Do you have any molassess or cherry oil in it? My creep feeder is out from the day we start calving. I have had week old calves go in creep start eating and go right to mother and nurse. I know we have used calf manna before and the strong smell attracted them but they have always seem to like the 14% grain mixture with cherry oil and molasses.

 

[SpiceCattleCo]

We have never had this problem before, we always have good luck getting them to start on grain at a couple weeks old. This gorup just seems to be more stubborn.

It is a pellet/baked corn feed with lots of molasses on it, it smells so good that I would almost eat it!

I have tried separating them for the whole day from the cow and they still don't eat the grain?

Is this cherry oil available from feed stores? I've never heard of it before?