A:   Depending on how old the calves are when you purchase them, you will likely need to to keep them on milk replacer then slowly wean them from milk replacer to dry feed. I would suggest to purchase a sweet feed from the feed store to start and follow lable direction as to the amount to feed to be fed daily per calf. After getting started on the sweet feed, it will be more economical to design your own ration and many coops or feed stores will mix the ration for you. The diet for the young calf will need to be designed using high quality feeds to keep the calf growing. You will need to have some forage in the ration to keep the rumen healthy. The concentrate part of the ration will be mostly corn grain, distillers grains, or corn gluten feed. If you use distillers or gluten, you will not need to add any more protein, but it will be important to add some calcium to the diet to avoid water belly. If you use corn, you will need to add some protein supplement. If calves weigh 100 lb at the start and leave at 500 lb and they convert at 6.2 pounds of feed dry matter per pound of gain, there are 400 lb of gain, then they will need almost 2,500 lb of feed on a dry matter basis. If the feed is hay and dry grains and supplement, then each calf will need about 2,755 pounds of feed "as-is". If calves are fed to gain about 2 to 2.2 lb/da , then half to 2/3 of the diet will be concentrate and the other part being forages. Fresh water is always important and make sure the vitamins and minerals are balanced. Consult with your veterinarian to develop a herd health program.