Bottle calf wants to drink but can't

[SDM]

Hello all,

I've got a 4-5 week old calf that I've had since just after birth. We've made it through scours with a couple rounds of antibiotics and electrolytes. For the last week and a half she's been eating well (2 bottles a day) and chewing on hay and grain. She still seems frail, but very enthusiastic at feeding time. Starting this morning it's like every time she tries to nurse it goes down the wrong pipe. This afternoon some was coming back through her nose and she'd stop. After a couple minutes she runs back for more. took 3/4 of a bottle before she was done seemingly for good. Any suggestions?

 

[Mat Man]

Check or replace nipple on bottle

 

[Boot Jack Bulls]

Check the roof of her mouth for a cleft palate....

 

[farmerjan]

Yes, check the nipple. It should not have too big a hole in it.
Also, make sure you don't hold the bottle up too high. If it is too high, the milk will go into the airway instead of into the stomach. The calf should have a bit of a U in her neck. Think of a calf under a cow. It has to bend down a little then angle it's head up to the teats. Too many people think as a calf gets older they have to hold the bottle higher. NO keep it low so the airway naturally closes off and the milk runs down into the stomach.

 

[SDM]

Replaced the nipple and that helped some. I'm holding the bottle a little lower. She'll take a bottle but it's slow. If she nurses too long the milk comes back out. The roof of her mouth is normal as best I can tell. She's still acting the same, runs to eat but then can't. I've seen her eat some grain and hay. She's definitely a candidate for early weaning.

Thank you all.

 

[Son of Butch]

Teach her to drink her milk from a pail. Many dairy 'bottle' calves are switched to drinking milk by 1 week of age.

 

[ez14.]

Teach her to drink her milk from a pail. Many dairy 'bottle' calves are switched to drinking milk by 1 week of age.

Yeah bottle feeding sucks! We don't even have enough bottles to feed all the calves

There is a dairy near by that doesn't bottle feed at all they just drive by with a big tank in the bed of a truck and fill the buckets if the calf figures it out it gets to live if it doesn't figure it out then it doesn't get to live

 

[Son of Butch]

Nobody just dumps milk in front of a new calf to drink to figure it out or die.
It isn't that hard to let calf suck on your fingers and slip nose into bucket to taste milk while sucking fingers then
slip 'em out. Most calves catch on and have it all figured out in 2 or 3 feedings.

 

[ez14.]

Nobody just dumps milk in front of a new calf to drink to figure it out or die.
It isn't that hard to let calf suck on your fingers and slip nose into bucket to taste milk while sucking fingers then
slip 'em out. Most calves catch on and have it all figured out in 2 or 3 feedings.

You haven't seen this farm!

 

[SDM]

Well the vet came out today. Said it's some kind of physical injury preventing her from swallowing. So multiple small feedings through the day. He gave her some draxxin, fluids, and a vitamin shot. I can't figure what happened to her.

 

[coyotefur]

cut the nipple with a razer blade to make a bigger hole.