Calf won't suck

[mcdowedd]

We have a calf born 1 week ago. It stands, walks, etc just fine. It will not suck at all. We have been tubing it since it was born. It won't suck from the cow or from a bottle. Other than that, it seems perfectly normal, cow is owning it fine too. Any ideas what is going on? What to do?

 

[Caustic Burno]

We have a calf born 1 week ago. It stands, walks, etc just fine. It will not suck at all. We have been tubing it since it was born. It won't suck from the cow or from a bottle. Other than that, it seems perfectly normal, cow is owning it fine too. Any ideas what is going on? What to do?

Dummy calf happens sometimes I have wrassled with them for 2 or 3 weeks and usually can get one to take a bottle. I don't mess with them anymore if I can't find some one to give it to I draw an X. I have never had good luck getting one to grow off and be worth all the time and labor.

 

[ChrisB]

I don't mean any offense, but are you positive it isn't sucking the cow when you aren't around?

 

[jkwilson]

I'd let it get a little hungry.

 

[hillsdown]

I don't mean any offense, but are you positive it isn't sucking the cow when you aren't around?

I would try the food color trick that randiliana shared with us. Put food color on the teats and then check them to see if they have faded or if the calf has food coloring on the mouth that way you will know for sure.

If the calf is not drinking from the cow I would be worrying about her, mastitis or drying up.

 

[daniel.carver]

I just went through this, had a lot of help from the board members. I made sure that the calf had nothing to drink for six hours, Then i put the cow in the chute, bound the legs to keep her from kicking. Now the calf was bawling, I put it's head down near the teats and no luck. I then pushed it to the teat and got some milk to spray on the nose of the calf. This did not work instantly, but within an hour the calf was sucking. I have had no trouble w/it since. Good luck.

 

[backhoeboogie]

You can also get a towel out and rub the heck out of that calf. Some how it stimulates them. Get agressive with the rubbing as if the momma was putting that sand paper tongue of hers on that calf cleaning it up when it was new born. The calf will get stimulated.

Calves have been force fed many times to get them started. Out of hundreds, none have ever been tubed. The kit is there just in case, but it has never been used.

 

[angus9259]

does it fight when you tube it or does it come at you with it's mouth open?

I'd let it get hungry and not stick anything down it's throat for a time. get momma in the chute as suggested. get some stuff on her tongue. if it won't suck, can it swallow? tried putting some of the milk replacer in a syringe and squirting it on the back of its tongue?

 

[regolith]

I've never had a tube calf go more than four days old before taking the bottle - but that's more than enough. I don't tube them at all if I can get away with it. Hurts their throat and ruins their appetite.

Let the calf get hungry, as suggested. Make sure you're squirting milk down its throat, whether you're putting it on the cow or the bottle. It doesn't know there's milk offered unless it gets a taste of it

Depending how much milk you're giving it, it can take a long time to get hungry. Six hours is worth a try, but don't be tempted to tube it if it doesn't take the milk... leave another few hours, try again with suckling.

 

[mcdowedd]

Thanks for the help...calf died last night. It never sucked at all..really strange. Couldn't get it to suck on my fingers..never acted hungry. We let it go longer than 6 hours a lot. Tied the cow, put the teat in the calf's mouth, etc. Tried all kinds of bottles and nipples...lamb, calf, baby, etc. I assume dummy calf, but not sure.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I have friends in Ohio, and I know you are Selenium deficient like our area. Do you give your calves a BoSe (vet prescribed Selenium) shot at birth? do you feed your cows Selenium in their mineral??
"Dummy calves" are usually SE deficient calves. SE affects the large muscles, and the tongue is a large muscle.

 

[jagfarms]

I am so frustrated! We have a 5 day old calf. My husband found her Tuesday evening in the barn lot, it was very cold and snowy. He brought her in to the basement and warmed her up. I finally put a electric blanket on her and by the next evening she was warm. We are pretty sure now that she never sucked the mom at all. We have tried to get her to take a bottle but she WILL NOT! She can get up on her own and stand. I work at a vet clinic, so far she has had a shot of Banamine everyday, 3 cc of Nuflor, 1 1/2 cc of Draxxin, and 1 1/2 cc Multimin. She has slightly raspy breathing, but I don't think she has pneumonia. After we try to get her to suck the bottle (very small amount at a time), milk comes out her nose, so we know she is not swallowing it. So we end up tubefeeding her. We have let her go for 10 hours so she would be hungry but she still will not suck. She does not have a selenium deficiency because we feed the cows mineral. I know there are dummy calves, but this is ridiculous. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Will she ever learn to suck???? Frustrated so much!!! Please reply, this has never happened to us before.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Jag - well you have probably been successfull at killing ALL the bugs in the calf's system. Was she running a fever? I would start with a strong dose of Probias to get some good bugs back into her system. and give it daily for a while.
When you have a hypo calf, the best way to warm them up is in a warm water bath - 100 F, keep adding warm water as it cools.
Just because the cows are getting some SE? in their mineral does not mean the calf is not SE deficient, although the Multimin would help. I'm not familiar with how much SE it has in 1.5 cc. BoSe is CHEAP. You already spent a bunch on drugs, what's a little more?
Not saying you should not have given her what you did, just would add the Probias & BoSe.
Did you give the calf Colostrum as soon as you found it? and was that within a 12 hr period after birth?