Calf questions

[4hfarms]

This calf sounds a lot better than some of mine I've had!

First - no one every really knows exactly what to do - we all sort of feel our way through this so what follows is what I would do are are opinions according to me - not "rules".

The most important thing is to get colostrum into it. If it sucks, let it drink what it wants. Sounds like yours has a good suck reflex and knows how to drink. 99% of the life saving work you and the calf have already accomplished!! If it only drinks a pint at a time, well, I would just keep taking it a pint. It's up, eating, alert, winner winner chicken dinner. This one is probably going to live. It's the non suckers that are the big problem.

If it wasn't really interested in sucking or barely sucking, I would tube it. But that's not your case.

Regards momma, I would get them into a pen together for sure if she's not being aggressive toward it. I would get her into a chute at feeding time, get the calf started on sucking the bottle and then pull the bottle away and put her on the cow's nipple. Sometimes I have to put my thumb right next to the nipple to get it sucking something and then move it to the nipple.

Getting a new momma to take the calf can be a long haul process.

Also - BoSe shot at birth for all of them, but especially the groggy ones.

He just had another feeding. He stood and peed also. All together he has consumed 2 quarts so far since I found him in the pasture last night. Very good outlook now. I expected the worst because of the unresponsive droopy cow I had picked up last night.
I feel so much better about the outcome now, weather it's cow or bottle fed is no issue, but ready to convince mama today...

This is our first calving issue in 6 years.

 

[Travlr]

There is no way to catch this cow in the dark. I tried and it avoided the coral like death. It ran to the back of the pasture multiple times as soon as she saw it.

This is why I train my cows to come to a bucket of grain, and set my facilities up so they catch themselves when they come to the grain.

So I agree with the others that say get the cow in a headgate and let the calf suck. The cow won't get the idea if she doesn't have a calf nursing on her.

 

[4hfarms]

This is why I train my cows to come to a bucket of grain, and set my facilities up so they catch themselves when they come to the grain.

So I agree with the others that say get the cow in a headgate and let the calf suck. The cow won't get the idea if she doesn't have a calf nursing on her.

They are trained to a bucket, all of them. If I had a bucket, I would have had 15cows and a couple bulls in there. Not what I was going to do in the dark.

She is smaller and the youngest (now)cow we have, until last year's spring heifers grow up. She is a little shy /non confrontational and would have been the back of the line for a bucket. I'll get her in there after they are done eating. Easier to deal with when not hungry.

 

[4hfarms]

So it's still alive, now bottle fed. Mama still has nothing to do with it. Day 4, was a lil under the weather today. Ate breakfast, 3/4 of a bottle, and lunch little over a 3rd of a bottle, then down hill. Wouldn't eat much tonight. 1/4 bottle tonight, Gave a shot of 300 due to a temp.

 

[farmerjan]

If you have the standard sized calf bottle... which is 2 qts.... I think you are trying to feed a 50 lb calf too much... You want him to be a little hungry.... you want him to want the bottle... If he gets too much, the "milk stomach" gets too full, it goes into the rest of the "stomachs" and runs out the back end..undigested...... He cannot digest that much... I wouldn't give him more than a qt a feeding if you are feeding 3x a day....
The biggest problem is people wanting them to be full and warm... and then they are "too full and warm" and they cannot digest any more... then it goes through them...
I will keep a smaller sized calf on 1/2 bottle twice a day... for a week.... calf needs to be wanting to run you over for the bottle....sometimes I will feed 1/2 bottle morning, 2/3 bottle evening for a little extra in the stomach for the cold nights...

LESS IS BETTER than too much.... it will NOT starve to death.... once the important colostrum gets through their system... and yes, let them have all they want/will take of straight colostrum for the first 12-24 hours.... for the antibodies, and the dense nutrient content.. .... AND for the second purpose of the colostrum, which is to get the gut tract working and to help pass the meconium... that "first manure"....it also coats the lining of the gut tract..... as much a lubricant as anything.... then a calf normally will drink a pint to a quart at a time from a cow in nature..... for the first week or 2.... as it gets more strength and energy, it will drink more... and the cow comes into her milk....

 

[bvf]

since im a quack vet
id also give calf some draxxin and consider ferappease for both dam and calf
and id be mixing my colostrum with mountian dew instead of water.
oxytocin is the love hormone, probably use thqt too

 

[bvf]

anybody having a bowel movement?

 

[4hfarms]

If you have the standard sized calf bottle... which is 2 qts.... I think you are trying to feed a 50 lb calf too much... You want him to be a little hungry.... you want him to want the bottle... If he gets too much, the "milk stomach" gets too full, it goes into the rest of the "stomachs" and runs out the back end..undigested...... He cannot digest that much... I wouldn't give him more than a qt a feeding if you are feeding 3x a day....
The biggest problem is people wanting them to be full and warm... and then they are "too full and warm" and they cannot digest any more... then it goes through them...
I will keep a smaller sized calf on 1/2 bottle twice a day... for a week.... calf needs to be wanting to run you over for the bottle....sometimes I will feed 1/2 bottle morning, 2/3 bottle evening for a little extra in the stomach for the cold nights...

LESS IS BETTER than too much.... it will NOT starve to death.... once the important colostrum gets through their system... and yes, let them have all they want/will take of straight colostrum for the first 12-24 hours.... for the antibodies, and the dense nutrient content.. .... AND for the second purpose of the colostrum, which is to get the gut tract working and to help pass the meconium... that "first manure"....it also coats the lining of the gut tract..... as much a lubricant as anything.... then a calf normally will drink a pint to a quart at a time from a cow in nature..... for the first week or 2.... as it gets more strength and energy, it will drink more... and the cow comes into her milk....

Correct, NOT forcing it to eat. I only fed 2x a day. The second one was the leftover warmed up because of bawling and following me around. I just guessed it was hungry. Had colostrum the first night and finished the bag the next day. He is on milk replacer now.
Today he ate like a champ! Full bottle this morning and wanted more. He can wait til later as you said. He is out in the pasture un attended for the first time with the rest of the cows today. I have been walking him around a few times a day for introductions in the pasture, for the last couple days. Had him put up at night due to predators. Doing well! Seems they all accepted him bit his mom. She still backs away or pushes him away. I think on the second night, after trying to pair them up, she must have laid on him. His left side legs are bent. He doesn't seem to mind but it bothers me. Still being a calf.

anybody having a bowel movement?

Yes he is. Was black at first 2xs that I saw on day 2. Then green and black the next morning, slight temp. Hence the shot. It is now baby food color and he is much better now. Acting as a calf should.

Why mountain dew? I used to drink 2 liter a day. Gave it up after I was diagnosed. Went clean, no sugars and ate most all organic and fermented food for a couple years....and still here. They only gave me 6-8weeks to live (in Jan 2020) IF I did chemo and radiation. Less if I refused... I didn't want to go down being sick all the time like a very good friend of mine did a few years ago.


Thank you all for the information and support. He isn't going to be big, but it will be better than dead. He wouldn't have made it through the first nite.