moloss
Well-known member
We have a bottle calf (that we got for our 9 yr old son) that was a rejected twin. It is 10 days old born small. She did get come colostrum from the mother. It has been drinking 2 liters in the morning and 2 liters at night for the guy we got him from. She would walk up and nurse the bottle with no assistance He gave us the bag of milk replacer. We are using the same bottle, milk replacer, and temperature he used. The calf will not willingly drink for us. I force fed it - squirted milk in her mouth and made her swallow last night and this morning and got her to take about 1 liter each time. She went 14 hours between the morning feeding the original owner gave her and when I force fed her last night. We had offered her a bottle several times during the day and she turned it down. Is 10 days a possible turning point where a calf can just go downhill for no apparent reason? We thought by 10 days she would be good to go. Any ideas what the problem is? Is it OK to force feed her? If I force feed, how much should I force her to consume at each feeding?
