Brown Swiss won't take a bottle.

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darcelina4 said:
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.

Dexamethasone is an immune suppressant. I don't recommend giving it to calves unless you have a good reason, especially if they're more than a day old. If the calf is painful from a difficult birth, there are safer drugs to give.

A calf's abomasum is supposed to be an acidic environment. It prevents bacterial growth and helps with digestion. Adding baking soda to milk interferes with that natural process. That's one of the reasons most good electrolyte formulas with a pH buffer don't recommend feeding them with milk.
 
i have not read all the other responses so I apologize if this has been repeated. I used to milk Brown Swiss cattle, and raise Brown Swiss calves. We uses to show Brown Swiss exclusively, so I have a lot of experience with them. They are notoriously horrible at taking a nipple. I tubed one for 30 days straight, then one day its light went on and it started to suck the bucket. All I can say is keep trying. I have managed to get a few to drink out of a bucket from time to time. They are stubborn and stupid at the same time, and that makes for a bad combination for bottle training.
 
I think he had something internal wrong with him, I once tubed a calf for 2 weeks that had been stepped on at birth, he was a beef calf. And he acted just like this calf.. It's been a sad day i get to attached so fast 😭 Thank you all for all of the advice!!
 

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