jkwilson
Well-known member
Had a heifer calve unassisted this morning. When it came time to lick the calf, she would put her nose on the calf's side and press down hard enough to cause the calf to bawl. While she was doing this, she was sniffing continuously. We yelled at her or clapped our hands to make her stop pushing. After about 15 minutes of this, she licked a few times, so I backed way off and watched, and she proceeded to do the normal mama thing. Calf is very active and alert now. Anybody seen that kind of behavior before?
Calf got up and tried to nurse, but she kicked at it constantly. I've got a whole drawer full of those "been there, done that" T-shirts, so we restrained the cow and got the calf hooked up. All the cow had was the molasses-y looking stuff, so we milked some out and mixed it with just enough milk from another cow so it would come through a nipple, and got some into the calf.
Probably going to give it some freeze-dried colostrum if the cow isn't cranking out any more liquid in another hour or so. Any thoughts? I'm wondering about oxytocin, thinking the heifer's hormones are a little behind, but she's talking to the calf and doesn't like us messing with it when she can't see.
Calf got up and tried to nurse, but she kicked at it constantly. I've got a whole drawer full of those "been there, done that" T-shirts, so we restrained the cow and got the calf hooked up. All the cow had was the molasses-y looking stuff, so we milked some out and mixed it with just enough milk from another cow so it would come through a nipple, and got some into the calf.
Probably going to give it some freeze-dried colostrum if the cow isn't cranking out any more liquid in another hour or so. Any thoughts? I'm wondering about oxytocin, thinking the heifer's hormones are a little behind, but she's talking to the calf and doesn't like us messing with it when she can't see.