Bottle calf or not

[Cbeck01]

So one of my heifers had a calf and she would not accept it. She was head butting, kicking, and running from it. I took it to the garage and bottle fed it for a week and it was doing good so I decided to take it back to the barn because my garage was starting to smell like urine. I have a cow and a calf locked up in the barn so I just put the new calf with the cow and older calf in the barn. So now my young calf is Nursing the cow and I don't know if I should continue bottle feeding or just let the cow take care of both calves? Any thoughts

 

[Rafter S]

If that cow is accepting the calf, and has enough milk for both of them, I'd let it nurse. Giving the cow extra feed to boost milk production is a lot simpler than bottle-feeding a calf, and the calf will do better with real milk anyway.

 

[Son of Butch]

Should work fine as long as cow has accepted the calf, although the bigger older calf will hog most of the milk.
IF not too big of a hassle you may want to give the young calf a bottle a day for a couple more weeks in case cow isn't producing enough for both and provide creep feed later on.

 

[dun]

As long as the calf is still coming to you for a bottle, keep feeding it. Once it quits, just stop the milk. Keep an eye on it to insure that is keeps growing and doing well after the cow takes over completely. We have a 7 year old cow that was orphaned and raised by another cow along with her own. She is every bit as good of a cow as her "twin".

 

[Cbeck01]

Will I cause scours if I feed her a bottle along with her nursing?

The cow let's her suck and just stands and chews her cud, does that mean she accepted her?

How do I know if she is getting enough milk? The other calf is 4 months so he could be weaned now, correct?

 

[M-5]

follow directions on replacer. Its best to make it a little weaker to start the calf off and gradually work up to full strength over several days IMO. A 4mth old calf is gonna push the newborn out of the way most likely and will drink more than a newborn. Like others have said help the cow with extra feed and she should increase her production to handle both.

 

[Rafter S]

Will I cause scours if I feed her a bottle along with her nursing?

The cow let's her suck and just stands and chews her cud, does that mean she accepted her?

How do I know if she is getting enough milk? The other calf is 4 months so he could be weaned now, correct?

Assuming it's eating feed, then yes, it could be weaned now.

 

[Anonymous]

Will I cause scours if I feed her a bottle along with her nursing?

The cow let's her suck and just stands and chews her cud, does that mean she accepted her?

How do I know if she is getting enough milk? The other calf is 4 months so he could be weaned now, correct?

Assuming it's eating feed, then yes, it could be weaned now.

I agree if you can wean the other calf it will save you time and be better for the younger one. At least you will know its getting enough milk.