First twins

[inyati13]

Skunk Tail had twins. She is a non-pedigree commercial cow. Big frame, 1700 pounds at least. Pasture Bred to Spartacus. Due 3/24/15. She had twins yesterday morn. When I got to the farm it was 19 degrees. She was doing fine with the Skunk tail bull but would not tend to the black bull. The wetness in his hair was frozen. I put a 30,000 BTU propane space heater on him and took him back to mom. She is not accepting him. You can see him in the left of the picture.

 

[retro]

lock her in the chute and get him sucking, I hope he got some colostrum , then put the other calf in protective custody before someone mistakes him for a sunk and takes a shot at him

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

Good advice retro.

Good luck saving that little feller Ron.

 

[skyhightree1]

Congrats on your calves... I hope you have colostrum you gave him just in case and have bottle calf supplies.

 

[slick4591]

Congrats! Hope you can get her to raise him.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Best of luck Ron!

 

[FlyingLSimmentals]

Congrats Ron! Now put the camera down and get feeding that other calf :lol: . Good luck with them and keep us updated.

 

[Nesikep]

Can always try some Oh-No-Mo.. and persistence on your part and that of the orphan will usually, eventually get the cow to accept it

I had a cow that lost her calf, and grafted another cow's (who had only a starvation ration of milk) calf onto her.. it took 2 weeks until she wouldn't fuss about the calf, and she never did learn to 'love' it, but once she let it nurse I shipped the mother

 

[3waycross]

If he got some colostrum and is going well then make your profit on him now and take him to the sale barn. A beef calf like that should bring a small fortune and you don't have to play nurse maid or take a chance on him being Panko'd and selling for less later.

 

[inyati13]

Not sure how this turns out. I don't think she let him nurse. I have tubed him with commercial colostrum SUPPLEMENT. I caught him nursing a heifer that calved on Thursday. I gave him 3 pints of the supplement this morning via nipple. He nurses fine. I tried to milk the Dam but she will not let her milk down. She has plenty but she is holding it like it is gold.

 

[Lucky_P]

Ron,
You probably need to - and I'd recommend most folks do so,too - get some colostrum REPLACER and have it on hand for situations where you just can't get the cow in to milk her...or whatever.
The colostrum SUPPLEMENTS are 'not much punkin'...better than nothing, but typically you're not able to get enough immunoglobulins into circulation with them to give full protection.
Best colostrum REPLACERS will have 150 gm(or more) immunoglobulins per bag. most of the supplements run in the 50-60 gm range. Unfortunately, most farms stores, tsc, etc. only carry supplements'; you'd have mail order a good replacer, and likely won't find a good one for less than about $35/bag - but they're usually good for 18 months or so after manufacture date. I keep mine in the freezer - probably extends 'shelf life' substantially.

Good overview here: http://extension.psu.edu/animals/dairy/ ... das-11-180

 

[wbvs58]

Paint a white stripe on him Ron.
Ken

 

[kucala5]

Put her in the shoot. Just spent 2+ weeks getting a first calver to allow her calf to nurse. It was worth the effort...we'll let her raise him and get one more chance to prove herself. $%$#@&*( heifers!

 

[retro]

Paint a white stripe on him Ron.
Ken

:lol: :lol: Good Idea You saying she's racist :?:

 

[dirtfarmer1000]

Never had any luck after the first day trying to get em to accept 2, Got to pen em in a small pen asap after they are born with both of em to get em to accept 2. Think after a couple days, you got an orphan or one for the sale barn. As long as he has had colostrum, I think you are good to bottle it, or as it was said, you can put her in a chute. PITA though.

 

[dirtfarmer1000]

Ron,
You probably need to - and I'd recommend most folks do so,too - get some colostrum REPLACER and have it on hand for situations where you just can't get the cow in to milk her...or whatever.
The colostrum SUPPLEMENTS are 'not much punkin'...better than nothing, but typically you're not able to get enough immunoglobulins into circulation with them to give full protection.
Best colostrum REPLACERS will have 150 gm(or more) immunoglobulins per bag. most of the supplements run in the 50-60 gm range. Unfortunately, most farms stores, tsc, etc. only carry supplements'; you'd have mail order a good replacer, and likely won't find a good one for less than about $35/bag - but they're usually good for 18 months or so after manufacture date. I keep mine in the freezer - probably extends 'shelf life' substantially.

Good overview here: http://extension.psu.edu/animals/dairy/ ... das-11-180

Read that they should get 100 Ig in the first 24 hours, 2 50 Ig bags will cost you 22 bucks. I usually give 1, bag. That's half what they need but better than none.

 

[torogmc81]

Paint a white stripe on him Ron.
Ken

:clap: LOL. Ron, all you gotta do is be smarter than the cow!

 

[greybeard]

Sell the orphan to Sky--he LOVES bottle calves so much he'll probably drive to Ky. and pick it up.
Last one I had that had a dead calf, I milked her before I turned her out of the pen and froze it--kept it about 6-8 months and never had a use for it and finally threw it out.

 

[nagwag]

Ron - I just had a set of twins myself. I brought them into the barn and milked the cow out, added Colostrum supplement to it as I only got a quart out of the cow and stomach tubed each calf with half. I left the cow in with the calves overnight and then kicked her out. I let her in with the calves twice a day and she has owned both of them. Can you separate the calves from the cow?

 

[reeler]

Ron,
You probably need to - and I'd recommend most folks do so,too - get some colostrum REPLACER and have it on hand for situations where you just can't get the cow in to milk her...or whatever.
The colostrum SUPPLEMENTS are 'not much punkin'...better than nothing, but typically you're not able to get enough immunoglobulins into circulation with them to give full protection.
Best colostrum REPLACERS will have 150 gm(or more) immunoglobulins per bag. most of the supplements run in the 50-60 gm range. Unfortunately, most farms stores, tsc, etc. only carry supplements'; you'd have mail order a good replacer, and likely won't find a good one for less than about $35/bag - but they're usually good for 18 months or so after manufacture date. I keep mine in the freezer - probably extends 'shelf life' substantially.

Good overview here: http://extension.psu.edu/animals/dairy/ ... das-11-180

Our local Orschlen store does carry Colostrum Replacer, but it's pricy.Good luck with the twins!