Calf age at grafting question...

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I.C.Angus

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My turn to ask a question....

I have a heifer that lost her calf 2 days ago (looked like it got stepped on by the feeder before we got to it). I was originally going to write it off as a learning lesson except she is trying to claim any other calf as it is born, and I hate to not teach her to raise her own.

So.... How old of a "bottle calf" have you guys had success grafting to a cow.

Mind you this will not be a pasture deal as I have a barn, pen, chute, drugs, etc... at my disposal...

Just trying to decide what age calf to limit to (was originally thinking under a week) as I search for a good "step child"...

Thanks for your time
Dave
 
We grafted a month old bottle calf on the cow
If you have the after birth in good shape or the hide of the dead one in good shape and some patience, it will work.
Sounds gross but it works.
 
Had one that we pulled a dead calf out of - and had an orphan whose dam had died of gangrenous mastitis, that was already weaned from the bottle - but we put the baby on that heifer and she did a great job raising her - and the calf turned out far better than ANY beef calf I'd ever raised on a bottle.

Be careful what you buy - a salebarn calf or dairy calf could potentially bring in disease organisms that will make you wish, for years (or the rest of your career) that you'd just sold that heifer and moved on. If you're determined to keep her (probably not an economically wise decision if you get right down to it, but I've done it, too), I'd be more inclined just let her go without a calf, before I'd risk bringing another 'unknown' onto the place.
 

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