Calf not nursing

[Windy Meadow]

Had a cow calve 7/18 calf looked good for a couple days.. Saw it trying to nurse so expected everything goin well..7/21 found calf in rough shape, dehydrated.. So bag fed it milk replacer, electrolytes throughout the day.. Caught mother put in her barn with calf she smashed gates to get back out to pasture.. Calf looked better next day so put back out to pasture with mother..7/22-7/29 tried giving calf bottle wouldn't take but watched nurse on mother.. But didn't look in great shape but up and moving.. Went out this morning calf was dead.. I think the mother wasn't giving much milk but I've never had a calf not take a bottle.. Anybody else have any experience with anything like this?

 

[B&M Farms]

Sale the cow.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Sale the cow.

Could have been a dummy calf they try to nurse but for some reason they can't suck or find the teat.
I would sale the cow as well cheaper to keep a good cow than a bad one.

 

[thendrix]

I have to agree with B&M on this one and say sell the cow. While it could very well be a problem with the calf, losing another calf to the same circumstances would be an expensive way to find out.

 

[B&M Farms]

I kind of figured if the calf wouldn't take a bottle well it might be a dummy calf. The reason I said to sale the cow was because it wouldn't pay to carry an open cow thru the winter. I would sale her and buy a heavy to replace her.

 

[DavisBeefmasters]

The bottle teat CAN feel very different to a calf, as well as they know the difference between the real thing and that from a mix. If the calf was a dumb sucker and never actually nursed she COULD have dried up in that time before the little bugger figured it out.

Should this ever happen again, you might want to try and milk the cow - put THAT in the bottle and feed it to the calf -- it would do 2 things for you:
1. You would know if the cow has sufficient milk
2. You would ensure the calf gets enough nutrition to survive

In this market, we would sell the cow -- it's a 1 strike year, no room in the figures this year for 2 strikes... if a cow so much as looks like she want to try and stretch a fence - she'll be gone.

 

[Windy Meadow]

Thanks everyone... Cow is getting put on corn for a couple months and put in the freezer..