calf grafting question

[mncowboy]

Im trying to convince a cow that lost her calf to take a calf that lost her cow and at day 4 she's not cooperating. If I tie her up and stand there she'll let the calf nurse but if she's untied, she's a little rough on the calf. Has anyone used "calf claim" or similar products and would they work in this scenario? The cow lost her calf at about 18 days before I tried to stick this one on her.

 

[cowgirl8]

We tried to graft a calf to a cow who lost her calf like a week before we tried grafting....Didnt work. Even when we got her to except it, once we put her out, she left it. It was a good healthy bottle calf too, good and pesky...
My conclusion was, if you wait too long, the outcome is iffy. I think too much time has gone by. And 18 days, may be hard for her to pick back up and milk as good.. JMO
We have best results with hobbles....

 

[Stocker Steve]

Im trying to convince a cow that lost her calf to take a calf that lost her cow and at day 4 she's not cooperating. If I tie her up and stand there she'll let the calf nurse but if she's untied, she's a little rough on the calf. Has anyone used "calf claim" or similar products and would they work in this scenario?

My personal record is 8 days before the cow accepted the graft. Everyone is different.

I have been told calf claim works. Tried it once and did not see a benefit.

 

[Katpau]

I once had a cow lose a month old calf to meningitis. We really fought to save that one, but eventually had to put him down. I had a month old twin calf that was rejected by the cow so we decided to try to graft. We put her on every day for a week, but each time we left the cow lose, she would push the calf away. I was ready to give up when I talked to a fellow with a large registered operation. He told me it can almost always be done, but his longest took almost a full month of putting the cow in the head-gate. I said that sounded like too much work and he said, would you rather feed it twice a day on the cow for a month or feed it twice a day on a bottle for 4 months. He also pointed out that milk replacer is expensive and that once the calf is grafted, it can eat whenever it wants and will be a bigger healthier calf at weaning.

We decided to keep on trying, and at about 2 weeks we went down to put the cow in the headgate, and the calf was nursing on her own. After a few more days of confinement, just to be sure, we put them back in the herd. She loved that calf like her own from then on.

We have since successfully grafted many other calves, and they are all different. It depends on the personality of the cow, the age of the lost calf, and the aggressiveness of the calf being grafted. Most only take a few days, but many will take close to a week. The important thing is to not give up. I do put "Orphan no more" on now, and I think it speeds it up, but even when I did not use that, I have always eventually been successful.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Most only take a few days, but many will take close to a week. The important thing is to not give up. I do put "Orphan no more" on now, and I think it speeds it up, but even when I did not use that, I have always eventually been successful.

I have also always been successful, but on occasion that requires the use of a stock trailer. :cowboy:

 

[gizmom]

We had one that we were beginning to wonder about last year, got the cow in the chute one afternoon the calf had figured out the routine and ran up the chute behind her trying to grap a teet. The cow stopped peed all over the calf and from that day on accepted the calf. It could of been coincidence, but my theory is it got her seant all over the calf so she decided it was hers. A friend of mine will buy cheap smelly powder at the dollar store and dust the calves back and the cows nose where the cow thinks it's her calf, he has had good success with that method.

Gizmom

 

[Ebenezer]

Put vanilla extract on the calf and in the cow's nostrils. Tie a dog by the pen so that the cow's defense instincts kick in. Other than that, trial and error over time.

 

[Black and Good]

18 days is a long time to try and get her to accept one. But what I have luck with is skinning the dead one and drape it over the new one for couple days. Then I rub some mineral on the back of the calf to trigger her to start licking it. Here's a pic of one pair I'm grafting now. B&G

 

[Coosh71]

I have had similar luck with skinning the lost calf and then using a couple zip ties on the grafted calf. After a couple days I cut the zip ties off remove the hide and 90% of the time the grafted calf never goes without a meal again. We keep the cow/calf penned up about a week or so together (always test the cows protective Instinct first) and then release them with the rest of the herd. Good luck!

 

[fnfarms1]

ive always skinned my graft calves. I'm at 100% success so far about 12 calves

 

[creekdrive]

We always skin the dead calf & use duct tape to hold it onto the calf we are grafting onto the cow. Has always worked for us - sometimes if we are lucky it is instant. Usually we will still have to put the cow in the headgate & get the calf to suck a few times before she fully accepts it. Most of our cows will like the calf with the hide on until they smell the calfs face & realise something is not quite right. A couple years ago we grafted a solid bright white Char calf onto a black cow. The Char calf was probably 30 lbs bigger than the calf that had died so it looked pretty ridiculous with a little black patch of hide taped to it. The cow could tell something wasn't quite right - she would sniff the hide & think yup that is my calf, then she'd stand back & look, and you could just see her looking around wondering what kind of trick we were pulling on her. I think that one took 3 days & then they were bonded as well as any pair.

 

[cowgirl8]

I graft 3+ calves a year onto commercial cows and other than one time on a cow weeks after she lost her calf, it always works without skinning the dead calf. I know people do it but you don't have to do it. Most cases it looks hopeless in the beginning. I've had a few cases the cow took it right away and I've had cases it took weeks. Pet cows are the easiest. Sometimes the broncy ones are easier than expected. But I do know you do not need to put the skin over the calf.

 

[customcattle]

We have had a few cows lose calves this year, and we have had a lot of luck with the calf claim, 100% actually. I agree that 18 days may be too long, but we had one that wasn't taking to the calf. We wound up rubbing a bunch of the powder in the cows nose and putting about Half a bottle on the calf. Good luck