Calf problem

[georgiabob]

I'm not sure if this is where this should be. I pulled this out of a week old calve's throat Saturday. Dimwit went straight over to the hay and started chewing on it again. This evening i cleared a wad of green stuff about 1/4 that size and a bit more chewed. He nurses with these lodged in there but probably not that good. I have had less that an eigth of an inch of rain since easter and i'm feeding clean bahia hay that looks like it was baled late based on the seed i'm seeing in some rolls. Has anybody ever dealt with this? Will he get better at chewing? Am i going to have to keep him penned until he leaves? I don't have small hands. I'm worried i'm going to be dealing with diphtheria if this keeps up.

 

[MurraysMutts]

There's something else I've never encountered!

 

[Son of Butch]

I pulled this out of a week old calve's throat Saturday. Dimwit went straight over to the hay and started chewing on it again. This evening i cleared a wad of green stuff about 1/4 that size and a bit more chewed. Will he get better at chewing?

Calves start cud chewing at about 2 weeks of age,
The fact that he went straight back to the hay to get some more after removing a wad that size, tells me he didn't hurt his throat. A more palatable quality of grass would be more suitable for calves but a wad 1/4 of that size wouldn't be of much concern to me. A couple more weeks of practice and he should have it down pat.
Of course keep an eye on him and intervene if you see him in distress, but I'm betting you won't have to.

 

[georgiabob]

Calves start cud chewing at about 2 weeks of age,
The fact that he went straight back to the hay to get some more after removing a wad that size, tells me he didn't hurt his throat. A more palatable quality of grass would be more suitable for calves but a wad 1/4 of that size wouldn't be of much concern to me. A couple more weeks of practice and he should have it down pat.
Of course keep an eye on him and intervene if you see him in distress, but I'm betting you won't have to.

That's kind of what i figured. I'm in a bad spot. I fenced in a new pasture last year and instead of leaving it in crabgrass and a little bahia i seeded half of it in tift 9 and the other half in cover crops. Since then i've had no rain. The last 3 springs we've been getting flooded, go figure. I boughtba load of hay in March in case this happened and the quality is mixed. No weeds and some rolls they wear out and others they won't touch. I'm kind of stuck on grass quality right now. I've got another spot i can move them to that's mostly woods but has some grass i've been letting rest. Just a waiting game. I guess i should be happy that he's an aggressive eater.

 

[georgiabob]

There's something else I've never encountered!

I hope he outgrows it because he's getting wise to me catching him.

 

[MurraysMutts]

Speedy lil farts when they wanna be!

 

[georgiabob]

Speedy lil farts when they wanna be!

I usually push him into panels then corner him. He's learning to get away from the panels. smart like his mother