caring for a calf after the cow dies

[Anonymous]

we have a calf that lost its mother about 2 weeks ago. It appeared to be doing fine by "robbing" off a few other cows----we left for a stockshow for a week and the person checking cattle didn't notice the calf. Now the calf is scouring, and it appears to have tried to survive off of eating grass. The calf's mouth and surrounding muzzle are very dirty and colored a greenish color--it seems to almost be regurgitating what it had eaten. What is going on, besides dehydration and starvation? Could he possibly have a disease? I fed him milk replacer and he seems to be doing a little better.

 

[Dyann]

How old is the calf? I had a similar situation, the calf was 4 weeks old. We check the herd everyday and found the mama dead. We took her for an autospy (she was young) and brought her calf up to a pen. We talked to the vet about the calf as well. Per his advice, we kept her in the pen, where she would not have to fight for food and fed her dairy quality hay and calf starter. She did great. I guess the one difference, is that our calf was brought up here day 1 and was not behind the 8-ball so to speak. The previous poster had some good suggestions too. Once you get this calf back to good health, you may want to try this. Good luck!

 

[Campground Cattle]

we have a calf that lost its mother about 2 weeks ago. It appeared to be doing fine by "robbing" off a few other cows----we left for a stockshow for a week and the person checking cattle didn't notice the calf. Now the calf is scouring, and it appears to have tried to survive off of eating grass. The calf's mouth and surrounding muzzle are very dirty and colored a greenish color--it seems to almost be regurgitating what it had eaten. What is going on, besides dehydration and starvation? Could he possibly have a disease? I fed him milk replacer and he seems to be doing a little better.

It takes 21 days in a calf for there rumen to develop. A young calf no momma left to only robbery is in trouble without some help (unless its Brahman). You need to bring the calf in if its young and put on a quality milk replacer and maybe calf manna.

 

[cherokeeruby]

I have never done well with a Brahman orphan, what is the secret?

Only had a few but none of the other mamas will let one suck. We tried bottle feeding a couple but the ended up looking horrible.

 

[Campground Cattle]

I have never done well with a Brahman orphan, what is the secret?

Only had a few but none of the other mamas will let one suck. We tried bottle feeding a couple but the ended up looking horrible.

I have had good luck with the Tigers letting orphans nurse. I haven't had any luck with the Herefords on taking orphans, maybe the cross brings a better set of materinal instincts to the table.

 

[hillbilly]

I've been known to keep a good cow way too long, so I've had a few orphans. This might sound cold but I'd take it to the local salebarn, There are calf raisers out there that would love to have it and it would bring might near $200. I'd wager thats more than you would clear if you tried to raise it....Sorry about your cow.

 

[TheBullLady]

I've raised a bunch of bottle calves.. mostly dairy heifers when we lived in Illinois.

I've got a dandy pair of Brahman twin heifers that are beauties! We fed them all the milk replacer they could eat. They had their first calves last spring, and are gearing up to calve again. :lol: