First Calf Heifer, not much milk

[BrokenArrowRanch]

I have a first calf heifer with a probably 3 day old bull calf. He is significantly smaller than another calf born close to the same time. He does nurse, but cow is irritated at it.She looks like she has no milk. Calf also tries nursing off other cows.

I seperated her, calf, and a friend from the herd. Im hoping to keep him on the cow and supplement with a bottle. OR should Ijust forget the cow? What kind of milk replacer should I get? The few times I tried to bottle feed, it didnt work out. Calves raised on replacer never seem to do as well. As the saying goes, moms milk is best. However, I know this baby needs help. Any help is appreciated!

 

[dun]

You will need a replaccer that has no soy and is all milk/milk byproduct based, a minimum of 20%fat 20% protein. Follow the directions on the bag for mixing and feeding

 

[Limomike]

I would definitely supplement with something like dun suggested. Feed the heifer mama, and keep the calf separated from the heifer mama, until morning, then put them together. I wouldnt just forget the mama, that calf needs to nurse from her, and she will probably produce more milk as the calf sucks. Sometimes its best to give the calf just a 1/4 or 1/3 of a bottle then see if it will go after mama.

 

[BrokenArrowRanch]

So I have looked at every feed store and tractor supply, all of them are soy and whey based, is that what I want?

 

[dun]

Whey based is ok (milk byproduct), soy isn;t. TSC has ultra milk replacer that doesn;t have soy, last choice would be supreme

 

[mjnetex]

Did he take the bottle?

 

[glacierridge]

Having the same issue here with one noob dam.
Thinking of getting some fenugreek to help out.
Anyone ever try this? I saw some online for horses and I know people that have taken it.

At least for now, calf gets a course once a day from Anna, tho she could get by on her dam, we just want more calories in her for a little more grow until we get some more milk flowing.

That's one nice thing about our operation, we have plenty that have milk abundantly, very few that run short (like my heifer last year that ended up with two mouths to feed, Milky Way had way too much going on for her calf), and the stanchions make it pretty easy to make donators out of just about any heavy milker.