Bottle vs nursing

[rnsandie]

I have a old coe that gave birth lee than 48 hours ago, she appears to have no milk. She is nasty with baby at side.. so I can't check. The baby appeared sucked in on sides... and was trying to suck every chance it got... I gave it a bottle of colostrum last night and a bottle of milf replacer this am.... I want to leave the baby with mom.... need thoughts about leaving baby at moms side while providing bottle 2x daily???? The baby is strong... mom not so good.... just very old, but she is great with the baby.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Check the cow's teeth. If her teeth are okay you might try a tube of CMPK on the cow to see if she has a deficiency. I'd cull that cow as soon as she is dry.

 

[rnsandie]

The cow had a dead calf last year (before that she had beautiful calves with on problems. She looked good until 1 month before delivery got thin except belly. The problem is she can be nasty, I haven't been able to get her in the pen until now and last year I could not get her into the trailer. The squeeze is 10 acres away from the pen I have her in now.... I would love to give her CMPK and check her teeth which I am sure may be the problem. She is on feed and hay now.... The baby may be getting some milk from her but I am sure it is not much... I have never left a baby with the mom and bottle feed at the same time... Just want to know what people think about that. Mom is feeling better today... chased me over the top of the pen..... but she is still dragging one back foot a little.

 

[randiliana]

I don't understand why you would want to keep this cow around at all, much less, why you would want to if you are planning to work with the calf. Sounds like a good way for you to get hurt. I'd pull the calf and bottle feed it and send the cow down the road. Either sell the calf or bottle feed it yourself.

 

[regolith]

It's no big deal supplementing with a bottle until a cow's milk comes in or if she doesn't have enough. It won't stop the calf taking what it can off the cow.

I've done it a few times, but not as a long-term situation - usually multi-suckling with too many calves, or for a sick cow.

 

[backhoeboogie]

I have a nurse cow (dairy) for situations such as this. The cow is a Godsend when you need her and a pain in the rear when you have to buy split calves and graft them on to her. She's a money maker either way and she's raised a few calves for me that I would have had to bottle feed otherwise.

 

[mnmtranching]

You've been scolded enough for keeping a cow like this around [rightly so]
Won't hurt anything [but likely you] to supplement with a bottle while the calf is with this cow.
As long as you're feeding the calf there is no point in keeping the cow, no need to check teeth, medicate, or call a Vet. Just get her in the trailer and to the kill sale.

 

[rnsandie]

Well... I still have the cow. She is doing better, I have been feeding her 2x day and the calf is not very interested in the bottle( 7 days old now) I still try to get one bottle a day down because the heat index has been over 100 degrees for days now. The cow will go to sale when the calf is older and she looks better, still dragging back leg... I have never had a cow look so bad! I was afraid the sale barn would report me to animal control :-( Thank you for all your help.... Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should be feeding the cow to help her milk production and weight gain? and.... how much?
I have been giving her all that she wants ( maintance cubes and sweet feed and coastal hay) Thanks again everyone!

 

[mnmtranching]

Sounds like your doing OK with it. Just keep her well fed, not going to be able to increase the milk all that much. Like your doing, hopefully she will put on a little weight while nursing the calf, then when she gets going well enough to bring a decent kill price load her up. Good luck.

 

[backhoeboogie]

With your temps over 100, it would be best to go with an all grain dairy feed wtih about 9% protein if you can find it. Most of the hobby feed chains don't carry it and it can be hard to find at times.

 

[grubbie]

I would get the calf away from the cow. I have never had any luck getting milk replacer down a calf that also has access to mother's milk. Not for long anyway. Even if the calf isn't getting enough milk from mom, eventually it will lose it's interest in milk replacer. Put the calf on milk replacer and quit messing around with the cow. Just my opinion. Good luck.

 

[HEREFORD ROADHOG]

The cow had a dead calf last year (before that she had beautiful calves with on problems. She looked good until 1 month before delivery got thin except belly. The problem is she can be nasty, I haven't been able to get her in the pen until now and last year I could not get her into the trailer. The squeeze is 10 acres away from the pen I have her in now.... I would love to give her CMPK and check her teeth which I am sure may be the problem. She is on feed and hay now.... The baby may be getting some milk from her but I am sure it is not much... I have never left a baby with the mom and bottle feed at the same time... Just want to know what people think about that. Mom is feeling better today... chased me over the top of the pen..... but she is still dragging one back foot a little.

I had a calf that we had to pull & she could not find the udder to save herself this spring ,so we started bottle feeding her & after about a week we went to the barn & she was on the cow & has been since. I also milked the cow to help keep the mastitus out of her.this cow is also a great mom ,although she hated being milked by hand. :devil2:

 

[rnsandie]

Thanks everybody.... I am still working with both the cow and calf. What a pain in the butt! I just have not had the time or heart to put her down. Her teeth are gone.... but she is eating grain and hay so she gets to stay until the calf is eating starter. I have never weaned a calf early... when can a calf go on 100% starter? He is 3 weeks now... I have seen him trying to eat hay, he is drinking water. I have started putting a little starter in his mouth after his bottle.