if a cow loses her calf 5 days ago, and was never nursed will she still have colostrum in her udder? will her milk come on down??i had a heifer calve yesterday and won't take her calf. the heifer that lost her calf 5 days ago, took it and nursed it about an hour after it was born, and won't give it up. i tried to give it colostrum from a bottle to no avail.
confused heifer question
- Thread starter jcarkie
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Depends on how close to calving the one that lost her calf was if she lost it before it was born. If it died after it was born there's a chance that it got the colostrum and didn;t leave any/much for her adopted calf. If she's been drying off for 5 days I would guess that she won;t come back into full milk production. Best to get the calf off of her and onto it's mother.
dun
dun
jcarkie
Well-known member
it is a rent place and the equipment happened to be at another place, truck in the shop yada, yada, yada, no excuse just happened.
we tried the bottle again, not interested. the calf was jumping around with the others so we will see.
we tried the bottle again, not interested. the calf was jumping around with the others so we will see.
We had a cow lost twin calves on a friday night/saturday early morning...next sale we could get to was on a tuesday, got a calf (born in the sale born) took it home on tues night--and the cow did not really want to take to it, the next day before we really "made" the cow take the calf (5 DAYS), without a headgate, just a small pen and my husband encouraging her to take it by smacking her, course that was a cow and not a heifer. She had milk and nursed the calf til weaning--it can be done, and if the cow wants the calf and has milk (i was unsure if your post said the adoptive cow had milk). donna
If the calf won't take the colostrum in the bottle, tube it...now! Get at least 3 feedings of the colostrum into the calf if you can...let the calf go to the other heifer if she can nurse it. And I wish you all the luck in the world.
Alice
Alice
randiliana
Well-known member
dun":5ynrht01 said:
Have to disagree with dun on this one,
In our experience, even if it has been a week the cow WILL come back into her milk. As to whether she has any colostrum I couldn't guess, I would tube it with colostrum if it were mine. If this cow wants the calf, let her have it, it is much easier than fighting with one that doesn't want the calf!!
randiliana":3li4mtru said:
I have found the same thing with the dairy cows. Even a week past calving and never having been milked and they'll still come back in. Takes a few days, but they'll start producing milk again.
jcarkie
Well-known member
the latest thing, i went this morning and someone had nursed the heifer that rejected the calf. i went to check on him and he went to the his real mom and started nursing while the surrogate mom licked him and talked to him. then he started nursing the surrogate cow. the real mom won't acknowledge him at all, but she let him nurse a little bit and then moved away.
thanks for the replys, never had this happen before. i hope not again soon.
thanks for the replys, never had this happen before. i hope not again soon.
well its too late to worry about any colostrum now. i'd just keep an eye out and if the heifer mothers up better she will probably ok next year. if not send her packing. since he is getting milk from somebody he will be strong enough to take it from the heifer if he wants it in a few days. sounds like he is the persistant type. should be chunky come weaning too.
oh, and 5 days is right at that critical dry off period. she will come back into milk but it probably wont be full milk, but may or may not be adequate milk. crap shoot.
oh, and 5 days is right at that critical dry off period. she will come back into milk but it probably wont be full milk, but may or may not be adequate milk. crap shoot.
cypressfarms
Well-known member
Sounds like this calf is an opportunist. My bets on him being the biggest at weaning time.
vs_cattle
Well-known member
Yes The Cow Will Still Have Milk Available
jcarkie
Well-known member
update on "lucky" my wife named him. he is doing very well has the 2 mom thing figured out. nurses real mom whenever she is eating and the other whenever he wants. he should be the biggest calf out there.
Bez>
Well-known member
jcarkie":31bux7t4 said:
Look - if the calf is on the cow it will be ok. Yeah it may / may not have got colostrum - but too late now.
We have had this happen before and panicked and ran everything down trying to get some in the calf. No luck.
In the end the cow that took the calf did a fine job and raised it up as good as all the rest.
While I will not minimize the importance of "first milk" - you are already over the 24 hour mark - so do not waste your time and stress out the calf. If it is being loved and fed it is well on it's way.
Tubing not required and stress is not required - bet this one weans out in the top half of the herd.
For all we know he is sucking on two and stealing from a third.
Relax - life is unfolding as it should.
Bez>
