Heifer calved and is not letting her milk down ANYONE?????

[Hunny Do Ranch]

We had a heifer calve on Tuesday and she isn't letting her milk down. We have tried milking her numerous times and I can get about a cup total out of all the quarters. The vet suggested oxytocin and it helps a bit but not aton. Any suggestions?
We have tried bottle feeding the calf with milk from our jersey and she will have nothing to do witht he bottle so we have been tubing her.

I don't know what else to do. We don't want to put her on the jersey cow becuase we are trying to put weight on her and getting ready to wean the calf that is on her.

 

[randiliana]

We had a heifer calve on Tuesday and she isn't letting her milk down. We have tried milking her numerous times and I can get about a cup total out of all the quarters. The vet suggested oxytocin and it helps a bit but not aton. Any suggestions?
We have tried bottle feeding the calf with milk from our jersey and she will have nothing to do witht he bottle so we have been tubing her.

I don't know what else to do. We don't want to put her on the jersey cow becuase we are trying to put weight on her and getting ready to wean the calf that is on her.

If you have been using oxytocin and she still isn't letting any milk down, then she doesn't have any. It happens some times. Best thing to do is to get the calf on a bottle, and sell the cow. Odds are that she won't have much more milk next year. Oxytocin works pretty quickly so you are getting what she has.

If you don't want to put the calf on the Jersey, you can either by replacer and bottle the calf until you need it (if you happen to lose a calf), or sell it to someone who needs/wants one. IF the calf is only 2 days old you should be able to get it on a bottle. You may have to let the calf go hungry for a few hours, but it should take a bottle. Try different nipples. Lamb nipples, or soft rubber/latex ones work well.

 

[milkmaid]

How much oxytocin are you giving? what's the temperament of this heifer?

Try it in this order....

Give 1 to 4cc's of oxytocin. (I'd probably go ahead and give 4cc's since sometimes 1cc isn't enough on a new heifer.) Wait about 3 minutes. Put calf on. The oxytocin WILL work -- 4cc's is really a lot for milk let-down. Do try to keep the heifer's stress level down since stress negatively influences milk letdown.

I'd probably do that morning and evening for a day or two, and then graduate to letting the calf on and then giving oxytocin after if the cow doesn't appear to be letting down her milk. If you have to keep it up longer than a week the cow may have a physiological problem preventing milk letdown and should get a new occupation - McDonalds.

 

[Hunny Do Ranch]

Hi
She is a 1st calf heifer. She is being an awesome mom. I can touch her bag without restraining her. I put her in the squeeze when we milk her. She walksright in like nothing we don't have a shoot to get her in. She lets her milk down with 1 cc of oxytocin but its not a ton. Her bag is quite full. I will call the vet and ask again for some and try that.

 

[milkmaid]

Hi
She is a 1st calf heifer. She is being an awesome mom. I can touch her bag without restraining her. I put her in the squeeze when we milk her. She walksright in like nothing we don't have a shoot to get her in. She lets her milk down with 1 cc of oxytocin but its not a ton. Her bag is quite full. I will call the vet and ask again for some and try that.

Try 4cc's then. I've had to do 3 or 4cc's for a mature cow who wasn't accepting some calves I was trying to graft on, and even so she didn't let down her milk very well, but then she was very stressed and upset anyway. :lol:

The calf can/does know how to nurse, right? Let it drink as much as it wants after you give the oxytocin, and just do that twice a day. Bet it won't take but a couple days and you won't have deal with either of them again. Keep us posted.

 

[msscamp]

An animal can't let down what isn't there, and some cattle just aren't up there on the milk-producing scale.

 

[Hunny Do Ranch]

She seems to be able to suck she just isn't getting enough food. She should be running around like a crazy kid but she sleeps more than any other calf that I have ever had. She has a bit of spunk a couple hours after I have fed her. I have watched her suck and she is trying harder now but still isn't getting enough out. How much milk should she get in a feeding she is hmmm 3 days old now. After eating you would think the bag would be quite abit softer than it is.

 

[msscamp]

She seems to be able to suck she just isn't getting enough food. She should be running around like a crazy kid but she sleeps more than any other calf that I have ever had. She has a bit of spunk a couple hours after I have fed her. I have watched her suck and she is trying harder now but still isn't getting enough out. How much milk should she get in a feeding she is hmmm 3 days old now. After eating you would think the bag would be quite abit softer than it is.

She can't suck what isn't there, and all the oxytocin in the world isn't going to change that. But, on the other hand, I've never seen a non-cesearan cow refuse to let her milk down, either - they either have it or they don't. Sure she has energy after you feed her, her tummy is full and she has the nutrients to provide the energy to run and play. The first sign of a calf that isn't getting enough to eat is laying around, and sleeping when the other calves are running around playing, and checking out their world. Assuming she isn't sick or scouring, she should be getting enough groceries to have the energy and desire to run around, play, check things out, raise a ruckus at sundown, grow, and thrive. If the mother's bag is as hard after nursing as it was before, something is definitely wrong - my guess would be a bad udder, but I could be wrong on that. You should be able to see a difference between an engorged udder as opposed to the way an udder looks after a calf has nursed the udder out. Based on your description, I'm thinking I would pull the calf, make it a bottle calf and ship the cow. I would not keep the calf as a replacement, either, as poor milking tends to be hereditary - assuming there is not a physical reason for her mother's poor milking ability.

 

[Beefy]

was this calf maybe a little early? i have had heifers before that had calves a little bit early and never came into their milk like they should have. they milked really well from then on.

 

[Hunny Do Ranch]

The bull was turned out June 16 and she calved on March 27. I did notice that the calf has a mouthful of teeth already. We gave her 2.5 cc's and got 2 litres out of her and it came out like our jersey when we milk her. She still had some left in her bag but it started slowing down.

 

[Hunny Do Ranch]

How much milk should we be getting out of her? What does a 3-4 day old calf eat in a feeding.

 

[Boldcat]

I had a heifer like that last year . She wasn't engorging and on 288 days I finally induced her .
Had to pull the calf .
Hardly any milk on the heifer . Tubed him colostrom for a few days and told him to sink or swim.
He made it , but his weaning weight wasn't satisfactory.
I was going to sell the heifer last winter but I've got more pasture this year than I need so I decided to give her one more chance .I never bred her while I was AI'ing so she went with the cleanup bull on June 20th (I think) . So, she should be calving within the month .
BTW , What breed is your heifer ? This one was a simmy/angus X .

 

[Hunny Do Ranch]

I believe she is a red angus /char cross

 

[milkmaid]

She can't suck what isn't there, and all the oxytocin in the world isn't going to change that. But, on the other hand, I've never seen a non-cesearan cow refuse to let her milk down, either - they either have it or they don't.

I saw three heifers on the dairy that would not let their milk down without oxytocin. Two graduated to being off oxytocin several months later and the next lactation were fine. The third had the same problem next lactation and was shipped.

We gave her 2.5 cc's and got 2 litres out of her and it came out like our jersey when we milk her. She still had some left in her bag but it started slowing down.

How much milk should we be getting out of her? What does a 3-4 day old calf eat in a feeding.

2 liters... around 2 quarts, isn't it? that's the right amount for a calf at one feeding. IMO everything's fine so long as the heifer can be "weaned" off oxytocin within the week. The stuff's addictive so be careful how much and how often you give it. Keep us posted.

 

[Hunny Do Ranch]

We tried to get the calf to suck today when we gave the heifer the shot and she finally got to realize that there is milk there so hopefully tonight will be better again

 

[randiliana]

We tried to get the calf to suck today when we gave the heifer the shot and she finally got to realize that there is milk there so hopefully tonight will be better again

Sounds promising!! Good luck.

 

[Hunny Do Ranch]

The calf is lethargic tonight and not wanting to even get up. I have no idea. Guess time will tell. We gave her some eletrolytes and scour med. Will go feed her again in a couple hours. Hopefully she improves but I have no idea. Her temp is 39.4 C.

 

[hillsdown]

I may have missed the something in the earlier posts but why are you giving it electrolites?The heifer probably has really bad edema which is causing her pain when the calf tries to feed therefore she stops letting her milk down.And unless you are experienced in stripping a cow you could be causing more harm than good.Your calf does not really have a temperature but if you are giving water when it really just needs milk you are probably starving it.Not your fault just some dumb advice you have gotten.Keep the calf and cow together and suppliment the calf with milk replacer until the cow can totaly sustain the calf.Also stop with the medicating the cow it is a 1 in 500 case that the heifer needs it.They are not dairy cows they are beef and once the edema goes down and they calm down(especially if you stop messing with them they are already anxious being first time calvers) they will 99.9% of the time get into the swing of things.

 

[Hunny Do Ranch]

I had a friend come over that has a ton of experience and many years with beef cattle. He said that there is something just not right about the calf. She hadn't got up all day and was in the exact spot that we left her. Her breathing was labored and she wanted to lay flat out. We brought her in the house and got her comfortable but she just didn't want to live. Don't know what was wrong with her but she was just kinda 'off' or different

 

[hillsdown]

SO the calf didn't make it?Sorry I hate to lose them like that.It sounds like pneumonia laying flat out with neck extended trying to breathe.Nufor might might have helped but who knows.It is so hard to diagnose when you can't see them.I had one this year that I was dumbfounded by.He lasted three weeks and took a lot of meds and special treatment he died eventualy did a post mortom and it turned out the main artery was not connected to the liver.Sometimes you can do your best but its up to the one in charge of all things.