calf sucking wrong momma

[charlotte]

I have a cow due to freshen soon and i have a little calf from another sucking away at her. She kicks at him a little but doesn't seem to perturbed by it. What can i put on her utters to keep this little guy away from her and will it hurt anything on the upcoming birth, besides drinking colostrum that's not his.

 

[rgv]

I had a similar situation this year. One cow had twin calves, which turned out to be fine. However I noticed one of the twins sucking on a cow that was due to calve a couple times and didn't think much of it. The cow had a healthy calf, however died about five days later. I am wondering if the twin calf stole all the colustrum or the new calf was just getting beat to the dinner table. The new calf definetly was sucking the first cople days.
Bright side, if there is one, is the the twins are still getting dinner from this cow.

 

[dun]

Separate the sucker from the non-mother.

dun

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

As Dun said, you must seperate them. You are definately risking the life of the new unborn calf. The cow will only produce colostrom once - when it's sucked - it's gone. And when the new calf is born, it will not be able to compete for milk against an older calf - even by a few days.
I would definately get some powdered colostrom & get the newborn to drink it just in case the cow no longer has colostrum to give her newborn. Being safe is better than being sorry. Dead calves are hard to replace. - takes a year.

 

[preston39]

charlotte,

That could interfere with the colostrum for the new baby. Get him away from her.

Depending on how long he has been sucking ...if it has been for a while....as a precaution when the new baby is born I would give him some colostrum to make sure...only got one chance to get him ready for the world....thats the first 24 hrs.

 

[jcarkie]

i had a first calf heifer let another calf suck-i seperated them immediately, it was a couple weeks later she calved fine. then she still let the others suck, i seperated her again. after a few weeks she won''t let any of the others nurse that i know of.

 

[Medic24]

Do as they say above... may already be too late though.... get some colostrum from some where, and just figure the newborn will not be getting any from the mother... shame , but happens... powdered is ok, not great...REAL is so much better. :cboy: