Brown Swiss won't take a bottle.

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Hey Murray Mutts you want to have a go at this fella I will Happily give him to you... lol
 
Lol! If u were closer I'd give him a shot.
Poor lil guy.
Maybe the light bulb in his head will just suddenly come on!
It sucks to lose one, but sometimes it just is what it is.

Hows he doing today?
Running jumping and carrying on?
 
I have had all sorts of calves and calve issues. Largely they are uneventful, but 1 of 10....and all beef mainly...so no BS

Have had many that will not take a bottle or any milk at all, the last couple were already about 250 plus lbs, I wrestled them for a bit, but they were used too mums teats, one sort of looked in a bucket, but, I just kept putting different feed and hay in front of them till they ate.....then gave them what they would eat.

Had a number of calves not interested in milk from bottle, but, after getting them sort of started, I let them get hungry, they would watch the others drink, and whinge, I would give them a bit, but, left them hungry....near all followed the others eventually, it is kinda funny, some of the most resistant became like crack heads and after milk at all cost.....they would still drink now no doubt.

I had about 2 in one group that only liked a bucket....yeah, sure, ok, I am sick of wrestling you....here is a bucket ! lol

So I have had 2 calves absolutely reject milk replacer altogether, no danger of starving as ate other feeds, had a couple sick, sorry guys, I tube fed for about 2 weeks, the last one I tube fed milk is as playful and strong as, but alas, 4 plus weeks behind..... TBH, I have tubed milk into quite a few, I see no drama, unless nearly dead, they actually drink on the tube and salivate etc....

They need the goodness from the milk imo, do not go too long with no milk.

I am patient, but if you have 20 animals to hand feed that are young, you cant spend 30 mins each, if it is by itself, not in a group, and you not been at it for over a week, then you just need to keep it up, if it has a physical impairment, or is ill, that changes everything, I would keep tubing milk, just not too much, keep pellets, chaff, and whatever else available to nibble on, some of mine have taken to pellet and chaff real well....last is, do you have a small hungry glutton you can put him with ?

One thing I know, and this applies to what I write, best not listen too others, had a number of people sell me calves saying they wont drink milk....mmm, yeah, right ! My oath they did !
 
Have you tried bucket feeding him? We had one once that wouldn't suck, but he figured out how to slurp milk out of the bottom of a bucket. Just a thought.
 
Good morning, I tried to post this earlier, I don't know what happened? This morning he is still acting slow, But,, last night I read on a UK Farming Forum to put Iodine on his nose and he would lick it off and nurse the bottle?? So I diluted 1 Tablespoon of Iodine in a 1/2 cup of water, and I put it on his nose, but he didn't lick it off,. So I put a Tablespoon or so into his mouth and he Sucked down 3 pints of his bottle!!!!!! :banana: :banana:
 
Farmerjan nailed it. It's a common complaint with Brown Swiss calves.
There's an old veterinary joke - and I even had it confirmed by a Swiss veterinarian, once, when I posted it somewhere:
Farmer calls his veterinarian - "I've got something going on with a Brown Swiss calf that I've never encountered before... wonder if you'd come look at him?" Veterinarian asks, "What's the problem?" Farmer says, "He took right to nursing a bottle!"

Have never yet raised a BS calf(though I'd like a pair to train as working steers/oxen), but have had some beef calves that had nursed the dam, and it took a week or more to ever get them to take a bottle. Maybe they got tired of being tubed, or finally just got hungry enough
 
I agree with Farmerjan as well. Its hard but some calves never take a bottle well. I only have had this issue with calves that were on a cow for more than a day or two. But, the only way I have got them on a bottle is to let them get hungry. I always say "a hungry calf will drink" and it has always turned out true for me.

The only time I had one that refused until her death bed was when she was also fighting a nasty bout of navel ill. She was just under the weather but had visual signs of illness.

I am so glad you got that bottle in. Let us know how the next ones go.
 
Lucky_P said:
Farmerjan nailed it. It's a common complaint with Brown Swiss calves.
There's an old veterinary joke - and I even had it confirmed by a Swiss veterinarian, once, when I posted it somewhere:
Farmer calls his veterinarian - "I've got something going on with a Brown Swiss calf that I've never encountered before... wonder if you'd come look at him?" Veterinarian asks, "What's the problem?" Farmer says, "He took right to nursing a bottle!"

Have never yet raised a BS calf(though I'd like a pair to train as working steers/oxen), but have had some beef calves that had nursed the dam, and it took a week or more to ever get them to take a bottle. Maybe they got tired of being tubed, or finally just got hungry enough
Click to expand...
:clap: :clap: :clap: :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
Have never heard of the iodine trick..... worth trying if all else fails. I do hope that you can get the calf to drink. I also have had a couple that would drink out of a bucket but not nurse a bottle. It sounds like yours might have some other problems from the start.... maybe you will be able to get him to come around. Since you have not had problems with others from this farm, I really think it might be something from the situation from his difficult birth.....

Hoping he continues to drink.....
 
Thank you all for the encouragement! He didn't want to suck his bottle tonight, so I dripped a little iodine into his mouth and he drank his bottle down again!!! :banana:
 
Hey, if it works then maybe that is the way to go until he gets a little more age and maybe "gets it"...... A couple of small drips shouldn't hurt him......I will have to remember that. There might be something in the taste that triggers the sucking reflex????
 
Dexamethasone to help him recover from a hard birth. Add a tablespoon of baking soda to the milk to combat acidosis. gel probias to help him digest him intake of nutrition. Get him eating grain asap.
 
I think why the iodine makes them suck, is because it tastes so bad lol. That's just my theory... Thank you all for the advice and encouragement. The calf took a turn for the worse couldn't even stand on his own. I had to make a hard choice. It makes me want to never take another (free) calf...
 

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