TR
Well-known member
We had a heifer calve last Saturday and it just so happens that she hates her baby. We had hopes that mama just needed some isolation time to bond with the calf, but 4 days later, no luck. We had been running her into the chute for the calf to nurse twice daily, but it didn't seem that mama was producing a lot of milk, so decided that maybe supplimenting with a bottle would be a good course with the hopes that mama would eventually accept her calf . Even though she's a heifer, and their bodies sometimes don't quite seem to be in synch sometimes, she was starting to be a danger to the calf as the calf more aggressively sought to nurse when mama wasn't in the chute. Ok, so she's hitting the road, but our concern at this point is her baby. Its 105 out here, and even though the pen is nice and shady, its still blinking hot and I wonder about hydration. She's not dehydrated at all, but it doesn't seem like 1 bottle twice daily puts enough liquid or nutrition into her. She seems awfully hungry after her bottle. So, after re-reading MilkMaid's Bottle Calves for Newbies post, my question is, would it be ok to suppliment a bottle at noon? Or, could I break the amount of milk replacer she's supposed to ge in one day up into 3 feedings? For example, if she's getting 2 cups of milk replacer total each day in 4 quarts of water, could I distribute that 2 cups into say 6 quarts of water so she's getting 3 bottles per day, but with the same amount of replacer as 2 bottles would contain? (just more water per day)