calves sucking off other momma cows

[jtbakv]

I have a calf thats little over a month old she has started sucking off another cow that has had a calf couple of weeks ago. does anyone see a problem with this, as long as both calves are growing. what issues would I have by letting him do this? should they be seperated? he just started this yesterday.

 

[tripleBfarms]

His mama may not have much milk.

 

[dun]

The main problem is the possibility of having 2 runt calves. Unless it's a real occasional thhe clafs mother is short of milk. The second cow may not have enough milk for 2 calves so you end up with one freeloader cow and one cow that is over worked with 2 runty calves.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

agree

 

[lynnmcmahan]

Six year old Angus cow had twins last Jan 4. I was worried to the point that I bought a bottle and milk to be ready if it appeared the calves started down. I felt much better after I watched another calf go through the fence to nurse with the twins. I never did open the bag of milk. Twins (and any calf that walked by) did fine but mom was as skinny as a garden rake 'til Oct, she's in great shape now. She was A.I.'ed in April (I think)and due Jan 1. Her 09 heifer is also due Jan 1.
As you probably guessed, that was my first experience with new born. Lots of worry over nothing.

 

[Lucky_P]

In addition to the concerns already discussed, there are some diseases which can be transmitted through the milk - so, if the cow being 'stolen' from is infected, she may pass the infection on to the 'bandit' calf, even though its dam might be non-infected. Johne's Disease bacteria and Bovine Leukosis Virus can both be transmitted through milk, and infection is life-long, with no effective treatment or vaccination.

 

[msscamp]

I have a calf thats little over a month old she has started sucking off another cow that has had a calf couple of weeks ago. does anyone see a problem with this, as long as both calves are growing. what issues would I have by letting him do this? should they be seperated? he just started this yesterday.

Yeah, I see a problem with it. The cow that is letting the other calf suck lacks mothering instinct or she wouldn't be allowing the other calf to nurse. Her calf is much younger, and is going to lose out because the older calf is stealing a large bit of her milk. There is also the issue that the older calf's mother is not producing enough milk, or her calf would not be seeking another source of milk. Personally, I would ship both of them.

 

[Double R Ranch]

I have a calf thats little over a month old she has started sucking off another cow that has had a calf couple of weeks ago. does anyone see a problem with this, as long as both calves are growing. what issues would I have by letting him do this? should they be seperated? he just started this yesterday.

Yeah, I see a problem with it. The cow that is letting the other calf suck lacks mothering instinct or she wouldn't be allowing the other calf to nurse. Her calf is much younger, and is going to lose out because the older calf is stealing a large bit of her milk. There is also the issue that the older calf's mother is not producing enough milk, or her calf would not be seeking another source of milk. Personally, I would ship both of them.

I have had a few do this and it always ended up in trouble. The last two I caught doing it both got the runs from two differant mamas and to much milk. The other calfs got less milk and got skinny (which helped me notice the nursing). They were then seperated. Turned them back to gether months later and the little turd went right back to nursing of the second mom.
My neighbor had 125 pair this last year and every one of them got the runs from nursing off any mom around. All the calves were getting differant stages of milk from differant moms. Was a bad deal all the way around. Lost some young calves from it to. The little calf went to nurse, the bigger calf came from behind, pushed the younger calf off teats and nursed them almost dry.
Not good. Don't allow it here.
Just our experiance.
Double R