calf's sucking on all the momma's

[dieselbeef]

i ve got calfs anywhere from 2 mos to 5 mos on the ground right now. 2 of them are going from thier own momma to any other momma that will let him suck. 2 of em are doing it. ive had this happen in the past. before it was mostly one momma cow that would let any of em suck her. now there are 2 calfs..one is only 3 mos ..that are sucking on anyhting..anyone..even hiefers teats.
i cant seperate the mommas all the time due to pasture limitations and theyre too young to wean yet..altho the one at 5 mos is going into the calf pasture soon im figuring..but that leaves 2 of em doing it.
ive got some nieghbors that said thier cows never do that but i think its just that they dont se it so they THINK that thier cows dont do it..
do they all do it or are all my cows retarded
thanks
gary

 

[Isomade]

Gary it seems to be more of a problem in Brimmer influenced cattle. I have a couple that do it as well. More often than not it is calves from cows that don't produce enough milk. They get smart after a while and wait till a momma is nursing her own calf and get the rear teat from behind.

 

[dieselbeef]

yeah thats the thing tho..aint none of em starving...makes fer big calfs !

do ya think it does any damage as far as thier teats and bags>

 

[Isomade]

yeah thats the thing tho..aint none of em starving...makes fer big calfs !

do ya think it does any damage as far as thier teats and bags>

Not to my knowledge. Some will cull for it, I don't worry about it unless I have a calf out of proportion at weaning. The major reason to cull for it is you can't get an accurate idea of the cows mothering ability if the calf is seeking nourishment elsewhere. I am strictly terminal so I just worry about weaning weight as a whole. If I was raising replacements that could be a different story.

 

[dieselbeef]

its odd tho man they get on hiefers even..that are still mos out from a calf...i hate it..my wife gets so mad she throws rocks at the calf..or shoots em with a bb gun...but it only stops em til yer gone

 

[Anonymous]

Having the same problem db..might be a Fl thing..too much yankee influence down here

 

[thommoos]

CHeck for tape worms, those sneakers shpould be bigger than the rest, I bet they will be more agressive feeders and keepers, always the ones to the hay first.

 

[dieselbeef]

oh they are plenty big.,,that is the upside..good thick healthy calfs

 

[dun]

oh they are plenty big.,,that is the upside..good thick healthy calfs

At what cost to the cows own calves? Sucking on heifers has been blamed for causing mastitis in bred heifers and first calvers.

 

[regolith]

Letting extra calves feed should *not* result in any damage to udder and teats, having said which, I do know of a 17-year old cow who was left with a mob of 30 calves and they looked to have nearly chewed her teats off before she died.
Dairy cows do it as well. If I let any calf into my herd, at any time of year, I can guarantee someone will willingly feed it. And cross-suckling in the calves under a week old - I've posted photos of it already this season.
I put two cull cows out with a group of 16 bottle-fed calves, saw them feeding off the first one but she was shuffling away and not liking it, then the second one took any calf. I don't actually know if they're still feeding off the first one or if she's just drying up, suspect the latter. Put another three culls out with them two days ago and in the morning one had a full bag, one had an empty one and one was lying down and I didn't go see. Four of the calves didn't bother coming to me for milk this morning.

 

[dieselbeef]

oh they are plenty big.,,that is the upside..good thick healthy calfs

At what cost to the cows own calves? Sucking on heifers has been blamed for causing mastitis in bred heifers and first calvers.

hence my reason for the original posting. i didnt find much on the internet ..kinda a tough search...i figured yall would know

really tho i dont know what to do about it..id hafta cull more than half my cows and probly 1/3 of my calfs...
seems to be more common than people wanna let on...yall are strating to make me feel ashamed about it..but i havent come up with a soluiton yet so....
gary

 

[fitz]

It happens sometimes. Here, usually the cow will butt it off. In your situation I would be more concerned with them going after the heifers.

fitz

 

[Suzie Q]

Hubby brought home a poor black cow who had 4 calves sucking on her.

He never should have brought her home as she was useless to us. It took 2 years for her to come on heat.

But the problem was was that she was overprotective of other cows calving. She wouldn't let me get near a cow who was calving in daylight and by near I mean the moment I entered the paddock and the cow was at the other end of the paddock. She had to go as it meant I wouldn't be able to help any cow that needed it while they were calving.

 

[Limomike]

I have had two calves sucking on other momma cows this summer, but both of those calves momma's were first calvers, and were not producing enough milk. I left them alone, and they have finally quit doing it. No problems. The old momma cows dont put up with it too much unless its their own.

 

[Farmerjon]

I have a couple Jersey/Shorthorn cows that produce GALLONS of milk. They raise big calves yet see them nursing four calves at a time. As long as their calf/calves aren't suffering, I don't worry about it. If they were going after the heifers, I might separate them. I would think that would lead to confusion or if they are near calving don't want all the colostrum stolen. I don't notice until late in the year, they might be consuming more than the cow can produce and have learned where the free lunch is.

 

[Massey135]

As long as you don't have one cow pulling all the weight then I wouldn't have a problem with it. I've had several cows that would share calves but make sure they're actually sharing and not that one cow is really raising anothers calf.

 

[Suzie Q]

Farmerjon the difference there is that yours were dairy cows and probably on good feed.

The poor girl hubby bought, was a beef cow and not fed for what she was doing. The calves were also way past weaning age. It was a case of bad management not a bad cow. I only got rid of her when she would have been too dangerous for me to tend out my duties. She was attacking me on a quad and I was just lucky that I had a shovel with me at the time.

 

[msscamp]

yeah thats the thing tho..aint none of em starving...makes fer big calfs !

do ya think it does any damage as far as thier teats and bags>

The major reason to cull for it is you can't get an accurate idea of the cows mothering ability if the calf is seeking nourishment elsewhere.

I disagree. If a cow allows another calf to nurse her it is pretty damned apparent she lacks mothering instinct, otherwise she wouldn't allow it. The major reason to cull a cow that allows a calf that is not her's to suck is because she is robbing her calf of nutrition. The flip side of that coin is that the major reason to cull a cow whose calf robs from another is because she is a poor milker, otherwise her calf would not be robbing from anyone he/she could.

 

[Isomade]

yeah thats the thing tho..aint none of em starving...makes fer big calfs !

do ya think it does any damage as far as thier teats and bags>

The major reason to cull for it is you can't get an accurate idea of the cows mothering ability if the calf is seeking nourishment elsewhere.

I disagree. If a cow allows another calf to nurse her it is pretty damned apparent she lacks mothering instinct, otherwise she wouldn't allow it. The major reason to cull a cow that allows a calf that is not her's to suck is because she is robbing her calf of nutrition. The flip side of that coin is that the major reason to cull a cow whose calf robs from another is because she is a poor milker, otherwise her calf would not be robbing from anyone he/she could.

You disagree huh? Re-read it and see if you didn't just actually agree perfectly with my statement. I was obviously talking about the poor milking cow who's calf was seeking nourishment elsewhere.

 

[MichaelB]

I've had a bit of a problem with that this year. The heifer calved first, and then my older cow calved a month later. The older cow kept the heifer's calf away until her own was about a week old (which tells me that the second calf got its fair share of colostrum), and then the heifer's calf found out that the her old Auntie was hosting a titty bar.

I was concerned about this, but the heifer seems to be tapped regularly and appeared to be giving a lot of milk when I watched her nurse. I was worried that the smaller calf wasn't getting it's share, but this the older cow is my bottle-teated Tarentaise with a dairy sized udder, and both of the calves are growing very well.

This morning they happened to be in the barn and both calves were sucking off the older cow at the same time, so I'm not going to worry about it anymore. Both of my cows have the same dam, maybe there is a familial approach to raising the calves?