Any advice?

[FFAgal]

Had a cow calve over the weekend and she won't take care of it. Instead she tries to take another cow's calf away. We've tried putting the cow and her calf in the pen together, but all the cow does is butt and kick the calf. We also did try molasses on the calf-she still doesn't want anything to do with him. Am I going to be bottling feeding this calf or does anyone have another suggestion to try with mom and baby?

 

[warpaint]

Try putting the cow in a head chute, to let the calf nurse. Then put them in a pen together.

 

[novaman]

I had a similar problem with a cow not wanting her calf and butting him around. Had to pull out the pitchfork and let her know who is boss. If you get after em when they try to hit the calf they will eventually figure out that if they just stand, you won't use the pitchfork on them. This usually works for me if I do it a couple times a day for about a week.

 

[SPRINGER FARMS MURRAY GRE]

If you can't get the calf to nurse,put the cow in the chute and milk her out a little and bottle feed it to the calf.Once the calf drinks her milk it will have her scent and she should accept it. Next time get a good mothering breed like Murray Grey! ;-) :cboy:

 

[certherfbeef]

Try penning them and putting some liquid molasses on the calf's back. The cow should lick the molasses and inturn take to the calf.

 

[KMacGinley]

Is the cow going after the calf with her head all the time or only when the calf tries to nurse? If it is a constant attack, don't leave them together. Pen the calf up in a pen right beside her. If she is just stupid mean, you may have a bottle calf. Get rid of the cow. Don't worry about the kicking. Hungry calves are persistent and it will learn to duck. If you can put the cow in a chute, put her in and let the calf nurse. The molasses treatment works for me too. If the cow is not going out of her way to attack the calf, leave them together and supervise nursing time by restraining the cow. Usually within a week they will bond. If by day 7 she has been penned with the calf and still won't take it , move the calf to a pen beside the cow and see if she kinda moons over it since it is not with her anymore, if she does put it back. Sometimes abscence makes the heart grow fonder. Good luck. Ps. If you don't have a good chute for stuff like this, buy one.

 

[randiliana]

.Don't worry about the kicking. Hungry calves are persistent and it will learn to duck.

I beg to differ on this. I have seen hungry calves give up after having the crap kicked out of them.

If she's really kicking at him, get a pair of hobbles and hobble her back legs together. This will also work, if she is trying to run away from him. Won't help though if she is smashing him around with her head. We usually will halter the cow too (leave a long rope on her) and if she is trying this you can just tie her up for a while every day. Usually they will give in and take the calf after 3-5 days.

 

[ENNOT]

I had a cow that I grafted a calf on this year that was a real pain. We put her in the chute, let the calf nurse, kept the cow and calf seperate for a couple days, everything we could think of. The calf was a twin and is real aggressive, but got tired of getting kicked.

I got tired of it and put a set of walking hobbles on her. Took them off 5 days later, worked for a couple of days, then started kicking the calf again. I put the hobbles back on for a week, took them off again and things have been great ever since. We also had another cow calve the day I took the hobbles off and put the two pairs together. I think that helped quite a bit since the cow was locked in a pen by herself for so long.

Try several things before you give up. Bottle calves are only fun for about a week.

 

[shutskytj]

FFAgal I have the same problem right now with a first calf heifer that claved 3/28/06. She doesn't go after it all the time just when nursing and now it is just kicking but when the calf butts is when she kicks I tied her up for two days with the calf with her. I did not let her kick the calf when I was around and evry day it seems to be getting better I still have them penned until I can count on the calf being able to nurse in the pasture maybe another week I will try to let them out. The cow and calf are loose together in the pen right now and I haven't had to assisst the calf to nurse in a couple of days now.

 

[TheBullLady]

I'd pen the calf separate and put the cow in the chute to let the calf nurse. If she's as aggressive as you say, she may very well injure the calf badly before you can get them paired up.