Can not figure out who the calf belongs too!

[lennie]

okay, I have had 8 calves born within the last two weeks. I own 8 cows, with 4 of them being "first-time" momma's and 4 having had calves in the past. I can match up 7 calves to 7 momma's with no problem. However, I have one heifer, that does not look like she has calved and I have one calf, that seems to wander around like she has no momma! She is slightly smaller than the other calves, so I am wondering if she isn't a twin? I am guessing she was born about a 5-7 days ago. She is up on her feet, she looks energetic for now, I saw her trying to feed off one of the other heifers that I am pretty sure is not her momma.

She also has markings on her that looks like one of my older cows, but that cow is clearly nursing a different calf and head butts this one away if she gets close. This older cow has also been very slow to shed her placenta (may or may not be related to this issue, which my vet says is not a concern that she is still showing placenta). I have one heifer that I would swear has not had a calf yet, but she "could" be this calf's momma, but just not taking care of her? I am watching her closely for signs of distress and if necessary will try to catch her and bottle feed her. Any Ideas on how I can figure this out? If she is up and going should I be worried?

 

[Anonymous]

She's gotta be getting fed from someone or she'd be done by now. IF she is as old as you think she is

 

[lennie]

Well, I checked on them on Friday 6/22, and she was in with the whole group. So that would have made her a minimum of 4 days old yesterday 6/25. When I saw her on Friday, she did not look like she was less than 24 hrs old. So that would make her 5 days old. I had to go out of town on Sun. 6/17 and before I left, I watched the one older cow calve in the pasture, I waited until she and the calf got up and watched the calf feed, before leaving. But, perhaps she dropped another (twin) after I left! At that time, I only had 2 others that had not yet calved. When I returned on Thursday, one of those two had a calf on the ground, so I was pretty sure I only had the one heifer left to calve, then I friday I see this little one and I still swear the other heifer has yet to calve.

I thought when I caught the calf the other day to check for gender, that the momma would come running, but no one gave her a glance! I will go over again today to see who might be feeding her, but so far I can not tell.

 

[Anonymous]

My bet is the older cow twinned. And the smaller twin (rejected)is sneaking a meal while the other accepted twin eats. You'll figure it out soon enough. Just have to watch.

 

[lennie]

Do you think I should intervene and try to supplement this calf or only if it looks like it is in distress?

 

[hillbillycwo]

I would either sell the calf or feed it replacer if yoour time permits. It would probably grow better

 

[Taurus]

Had an older cow calved twins in the past, rejected the first calf for a second calf. The first calf was wandering around in the pasture I had to raise her with other bottle calves. Don't know why the momma rejected the first calf despite it was not her first time of having twins.

 

[rockridgecattle]

Well, the fastest way to find out if the last cow calved and is ignoring this wanderer is to glove up and check her out. Once you eliminate that possibility the results are clear. You either had a twin or you did not. The twin has been rejected and at some point one or more calves will suffer. Either this wanderer will suffer or one or more of the others will because the wanderer steals. Not to mention the wanderer will drag the mommas down because they will be feeding an extra mouth.
So, first order of business, determine if that heifer calved.
Next, go to the vets and buy a bag (single dose) of colostrum if that heifer did not calf yet cause sure as be nice that calf has cleaned her out a time or two.
Next, since you will have determined if that heifer calved or not, and since you are buying colostrum cause you found out that heifer did not calve (just following a line of reasoning here) buy a bag of milk replacer and a calf bottle (if you do not have one) and feed that stealer before some calf suffers due to lack of milk.
Now if that heifer did calve...got your self a fine mess of a problem. If she did...either ship her sorry be nice butt out of dodge or work with the momma for her to accept the calf.
Either result, problem solved

 

[southern guy]

If the calf has already nursed on a real cow it will be hard to get it to take a bottle. I had two heifers that calved on the same day and one of them didn't have any milk. I tried bottle feeding the calf for a day but he never would take so i ended up letting him back out with the herd and he is doing fine nursing off of the other cows.

 

[lennie]

Well, the mystery has been somewhat solved! The calf is, in fact ,a twin. I know this because the one remaining heifer dropped her calf last friday. The twin calf is doing okay, she is seemingly adopted by one of the younger heifers although I don't think she is her calf either. I am watching her for condition and keeping my eye on the "step" momma.