Cow rejected twin calf

[alisoninge]

My Uncle has a sick calf on his hands and it was born on Sunday. He just lost his wife and wasn't able to take care of it that well because he was arranging her funeral. Last night my cousin and I brought the calf in from the barn into the basement of his house.

It made it through the night, but it hasn't been receiving it's mother's milk. My uncle made a formula up for the calf instead but I know that it wouldn't be sufficient because it was made with evaporated milk. My uncle's getting older he's in his 80's and I want to help him this weekend if the calf is going to live.


What kind of formula would you suggest? What are the chances of the calf surviving. I covered the calf with a coat and put a warm water bottle next to it so that it wouldn't be cold.

 

[Bez>]

Personal experience - more than 75% of cows reject a twin. MOst folks with little twin experience do not know this and are surprized when it happens.

Evap milk is good - do not mix it thin and calf needs volume as well - temporary fix only.

Buy some good milk replacer and bottle feed / or give it away / sell it.

Weak calves can and do make it without colostrum if fed quality replacer. Just follow the directions on the bag.

Too weak to bother - then shoot it.

All choices and decisions need to be made quickly.

Do a search on these boards for

new calf
bottle baby
weak calf

and any other words you can think of.

Good luck

Bez>

 

[msscamp]

I would add a couple of things to the previous post - 1) Start out slow with the milk replacer. Too much, and you're going to be dealing with a good case of scours. You don't want that. 2) The calf is now in a somewhat controlled environment - temperature wise - so do not overheat him. That is just as bad as him getting too cold. 3) Make sure the milk replacer you buy is at least 20% fat & protein, and that it is milk byproducts - not soy. You can tell by the listing on the label - the higher the milk byproducts are listed, the more the milk replacer contains. You might also consider buying a medicated milk replacer - it sure won't hurt, and just might help. Good luck with this little guy.

 

[bward]

more than 75% of cows reject a twin.

Really. That hasn't been my experience. I have only had one cow reject one twin in the 27 years we have been at this. :shock:

 

[mgman]

75% of cows reject twins???
Guess I have some really exceptional cows...or have been incredibily lucky! Had 3 sets of twins this year and all 3 cows took both calves without the slightest bit of a problem-and 1 of the 3 was a 2 y/o with her first calving.

 

[msscamp]

more than 75% of cows reject a twin.

Really. That hasn't been my experience. I have only had one cow reject one twin in the 27 years we have been at this. :shock:

Wow, that is great! Unfortunately our experience has been just the opposite - we've only had 1 cow that accepted both twins.

 

[rockridgecattle]

We had three sets this year...unusual for us. one mother was indifferent. she is older that Moses or is it Noah, and was happy to have just one. she licked them both clean, and when we took the calf after it's first suck she didn't really care..no bawling. The other two would have taken them both. but one did not have enough milk and the other had enough but the calves were greedy and others suffered for it.
When i first started farming i thought twins...cool, now it's twins...aw man, do we have a cow to adopt it?

 

[msscamp]

When i first started farming i thought twins...cool, now it's twins...aw man, do we have a cow to adopt it?

I guess I must be weird(please feel free to not agree with that statement. :shock: :lol: :lol. I realize that raising a bottle calf is a lot of work, and that it is very time-consuming - I'm not going to argue or disagree with either one of those facts, but I've always looked at raising a bottle calf as a personal challenge and the opportunity to test myself to see if I had the knowledge and ability to handle whatever came up, solve any problems that presented themselves, and end up with a good calf that sold well or went on to take her place in the herd. I guess that is just me, though.

 

[rockridgecattle]

You know i would probably have the same opinion as you, but right now i'm stretched pretty thin with everthing else going on and i'm tired...bees, chickens, cows and everything else that goes with it, garden(what garden? oh look there is a healthy crop of weeds...to cold to plant yet anyways), book work, and both of us with off farm jobs.
We are taking steps so that next year things will be different and so will my 'tude.

 

[msscamp]

I can certainly understand that, and my response was not directed at you. It was simply intended to be a general comment inspired by a comment you made - hence my quoting you. I'm truly sorry it appeared to be aimed at you.

 

[rockridgecattle]

Seriously, no offence taken, no apology needed.
Thanks though

 

[msscamp]

You're welcome, and I'm glad.