Crazy A-- Calf/Deaf Calf?

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boondocks

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We have been hopping with our first crop of AI calves. One a day the last several days.

The first one was born Fri am to a first-time Angus heifer. Mom and baby couldn't quite get their nursing act together the first 2 days and we had to try to bottle feed some colostrum to baby (got a tiny bit from mom, and a few oz artificial, but by then it was 8-10 hrs post-birth). Got the two of them in the barn for two days; couldn't see any obvious signs she was nursing much, but she wouldn't take much of a bottle, and she did begin to poo (which was then getting loose). Finally baby was nursing a bit so we let them out with the herd yesterday. She frolicked in the field at 7am today, running everywhere, then we didn't see her the rest of the day. Looked midday and didn't see her but wasn't too worried. This evening got worried and went looking; mama then started hollering and had a full bag. Two hours later, found calf well outside the electric fence, in deep brush and trees. Mama was and had been bawling and bawling for her but baby didn't react; hadn't tried to come out of hiding to mom or even make a noise back. It was sheer luck we found her at dusk. When we reunited them, and mama attempted to moo to let baby know where to go, calf made no sign that she heard.

Although she had a bit of scours the past 2-3 days, her temp has been fine and she's been lively==TOO lively. She ignores mama and pays her no mind, and goes straight to the fence line. Question: is she possibly deaf, or just dangerously in-dam-pendent? Cute little thing but if she keeps this up, I don't like her chances. There was coyote scat all over where she got out.

Have you ever seen a calf just ignore (100%) even the most "Get Yer A__ Over Here Now, Junior!" bellows from mom? She scampers away without a care in the world, while her frustrated mom tries to herd her back to safety/milk. Her ears don't twitch and she doesn't turn her head toward sound, at least that we can tell so far...
 
I have had some that just want to be in a certain place.. and there was no stopping them. It sounds to me like she thinks she's safe in those brushes,.. if you can, pen them up for a bit longer and, if possible, get her used to a hot wire before she gets let out.. some are slow learners :)

Good luck with her, she sounds like a handful... I doubt she's deaf, just stubborn
 
Nesikep":gyn7st44 said:
I have had some that just want to be in a certain place.. and there was no stopping them. It sounds to me like she thinks she's safe in those brushes,.. if you can, pen them up for a bit longer and, if possible, get her used to a hot wire before she gets let out.. some are slow learners :)

Good luck with her, she sounds like a handful... I doubt she's deaf, just stubborn

Yes she is quite stubborn! Part of me admires it in such a little thing, the other part of my thinks it's gonna get her in big trouble!

We have very lively calves this year. Way more rambunctious than last year!
 
The fact that she won't turn her head towards sound, would have me wondering about her hearing as well.

I too have had "stubborn" calves, but at some point all the ones I have had will respond to their mother either by bawling back at them or running to them.

Good luck with her.

Katherine
 
Just found this thread from last summer and thought I'd post an update. The calf and mama did get their act together and calf is now a nice yearling. She is nice but still a bit smallish, and in view of our desire to move our herd from summer to spring calving, I guess we will hold her (and our other 2 yearlings) over the winter. I hate to miss a year with them, but it's either breed this fall for a July-ish calving (then we have the same issues with those calves), or bite the bullet and hold them open this winter, and breed next summer for an April 2016 delivery (which will put them a few months shy of age 3).

We are in the middle of AI'ing our existing summer calvers; if they take first time, that'll give us a June 3 delivery next year, which we can hopefully continue to back up a few weeks each year.
 
Nesikep":ahzmzc0b said:
Good to hear she made it :)

Thanks Nesi! She has the ear tag "#1" (first registered calf born here) so I was worried it would be bad karma if she didn't make it!
 
Have dug them out of hiding before, carried them back across a field only for them to turn and run back to the hiding spot, thru live fences and everything.

Have also had some who's legs would barely work, weak and wobbly who made it back and forth to nurse on their own. So its not too often I intervene now, they typically sort it out. The only time I would be worried is if the area has drop off's where the calf falls down in a hole somewhere, or predators like you mention.
 
I, too, try not to intervene, unless absolutely necessary. First AI calf crops, years ago, by one particular Angus sire... if you disturbed them during the first 24 hours, the calves would get up and run like deer! Had one run a quarter mile and bail off into a rain-swollen creek. Another crossed 2 hot fences, a barbed wire fence, through the woods, crossed the highway and bedded down in a neighbor's pasture across the road. It's a wonder I managed to catch that one and get it back home. We quit using that sire... for that and other reasons... and have not experienced that problem again.

However, have had 3 teat/udder issues in the last month - 8 yr old cows with huge udders and big teats - I've been watching them closely the past 3 calvings, anticipating problems that didn't happen, but they finally all came home to roost this season. 12-24 hrs out and I was certain that the calf had not yet nursed. Two required just a pass or two through the chute for the calf to get started, and get to go back out to the pasture with the rest of the herd.
Third one...24 hrs out, I was pretty sure the calf had not nursed; she'd bawl and look for him, but if you put him right in front of her, it was like she didn't recognize him. Took him to the barn and fed him colostrum; took another 24 hrs to get her cut out and driven to the barn. She will let her calf nurse in the chute, but doesn't mother him or let him nurse unless restrained. 10 days in on putting her in the chute 2X a day... at least she's easy to handle, but I'm getting really disgusted with her. I've never had to go that long, even grafting a different calf onto a cow. This ain't her first rodeo... but it's the last one here for all three of these girls... hate to see 'em go, as they all raise a heck of a calf, but their time is up; they've committed the unforgiveable sin of making me put 'em in the chute to get their calves started.
 
Lucky_P":9bnogvvl said:
... hate to see 'em go, as they all raise a heck of a calf, but their time is up; they've committed the unforgiveable sin of making me put 'em in the chute to get their calves started.

That's sort of where we're at. We're not looking for any animals that make extra work--got more than enough as-is.

Debating whether to let go a cow that's birthed w/o help last summer and this summer. This is the one I wrote about previously that had bad pinkeye with some residual cloudiness. She's nonetheless conceived pretty readily on AI. Problem is, both last summer and this one, her calves have to bump and bump her udder to get let-down. Milk does flow but seems to take a bit more work than the calves like. She does have a decent though not huge udder, and teats seem fine. Both last summer and this one, her calves will nurse her but also get frequent handouts from other cows. I've worried her milk would dry up as a result; it doesn't seem to so I know her calves do nurse her some (and I've seen them do so). She doesn't kick them off--to the contrary, I saw her go looking for her calf and stand by forlornly while it nursed another cow. She mooed to tell it "over here, dummy" but I think the calves are savvy and if another cow's milk is easier, are going there...

Hate to get rid of an easy breeder and good calver...her calf last year is decent, esp for a first-time mama with poss vision issues
 
boondocks":1gnvcahm said:
Debating whether to let go a cow that's birthed w/o help last summer and this summer. This is the one I wrote about previously that had bad pinkeye with some residual cloudiness.

She needs to GO. She obviously doesn't make enough milk for her calves if they have to steal from another cow. She did not raise a good calf last year.......she AND the other cows did.......that calf got milk from other cows instead of just from her.
 
Workinonit Farm":34q1vu3v said:
She needs to GO. She obviously doesn't make enough milk for her calves if they have to steal from another cow. She did not raise a good calf last year.......she AND the other cows did.......that calf got milk from other cows instead of just from her.

I agree with you, up to a point. However, we do not have a clean-up bull, so for us, an easy breeder (AI) is hard to give up. We have also been told by a friend (Cornell ag expert) that she has one of the better conformations in our herd...Also, the calf is sneaking occasional snacks from a cow who is notoriously generous (raises a big calf of her own, supplements the odd stray or bottle calf, and still maintains her condition very well). So the decision is not so cut-and-dried to me, at this point anyway. I plan to see which direction things are heading then decide.

Regardless where he's getting fed, her bull (now steer) calf is very nice (Weigh Up is the sire).

Thanks for the input, it's helpful to know others' thoughts.
 
My first bottle calf (and probably last) was kinda similar. He was a twin, both twins were breech and had to have the vet pull them. Maybe he was in the vaginal canal too long, or maybe he got his brains scrambled when the vet pulled him and his head bounced off the chute floor ("no big deal" says the vet), but he ended up having no interest in mom. I had the twins penned with mom for a good week before letting them into the field and everything seemed okay. But after he got into the pasture he would just decline and get dehydrated. I would bottle feed him in the pasture, he would get better, run from me, I would stop feeding him, and he would decline again. I eventually penned him and bottle fed him and he fought me with every feeding. When I did put him back with the herd, he had no real interest in them. He tried to die on me with pneumonia. Was the first cow that ever got a ride in my tractor back to the barn. He bloated on me after having a reaction to pour on and was the first, second and third animal I ever got to trocar. He was definitely a 'special needs' calf, and looked the part. Though I was kind of embarrassed to sell him, I am glad I got some of my money back.
 

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