B&N":3oqk0h1d said:
If my husband has his way we will take Alice's advice. Back to the sale barn . I of course have gotten attached. Changed to 20/20/20 milk replacement and again he would not suck. Just wants to chew and he will bite down on nipple but won't suck. We have been trying to help him with motions. Moving his jaw and putting finger on back of tongue. This technique seems to work the best as for getting 1-1 1/2 quarts of milk in him. Takes about 45 mins to accomplish though. When I put in the bucket in tends not to dissolve completely although he will drink some from the bucket in time. Residue left in bucket. Could this be the brand? Tonight I gave him hay and mixed a little dry milk replacement with calf starter feed. Loved the hay as he ate right out of my hand. Hasn't eaten much feed.*** Back to my original post. Any thoughts on the nipple. Using a long red nipple. Our local farm store was out of the black nipples. Tractor supply was closed today. Thought about going to Feed store tomorrow and drying different milk but I am beginning think he just isn't going to suck. Thanks everyone for your help. He is still full of spunk and acting fine at this point.
No shame in getting attached. Been there, done that, got
all of the T-shirts.
Do you have another calf that is on the bottle? One you could put that calf in with? Monkey see, monkey do.
Whatever the case may be, if that calf is still romping around, that's 3/4's of the battle right there. Talk to your vet tomorrow...see if he/she thinks it's ok to let it go w/o the milk replacer. BTW, 20/20 milk replacer is fine and good and I'd never, ever try to raise a calf on anything less...but it's only good if you can get the calf to drink it. Changing to it won't make the calf drink it.
One other thing you might try, altho I really think it's an exercise in futility...mix the milk replacer with strawberry jello powder...and push the probios. Even if the calf won't drink the milk replacer, the probios very well may stimulate the appetite and make the calf eat more dry calf feed.
Also, if you are able to get a quart down the calf, mix the milk replacer with much less water. Use the same amount of powder that you would with 4 pints of water, but mix it with 2 pints of water. The calf will still get the nutrition and there will be less of a fight on your hands.
Here's a bit of advice that I really never took, but knew that I should. Sometimes, you try to hard...and the outcome is the same whatever you try. I can't help but think with that calf eating dry feed, it's gonna be ok, but Lord knows, with calves, nothing is written in stone.
Good luck,
Alice