We have two cows that had still born calves. The first lost her calf on the night between February 15th &16th and the other sometime between the night of February 22nd and the morning of the 23rd. On the morning of February 29th we found a new calf in the first calf heifer pasture who was being cleaned through the fence by a yearling heifer. We located her mother up on the hill and she had prolapsed and died while giving birth the night before. We took it home, got colostrum in him, and the following day we caught the cow that had lost her calf a week earlier. We milked her and got what we could, then fed the calf again. We put the cow in the chute and put the calf on her a few times a day for the next two days. By yesterday she was feeding it and protecting it. I'm not sure how much milk she has now, so we are also offering 1/2 bottle morning and evening. He takes it then runs back to her to nurse.
Yesterday, we went down in the evening to feed, and there was a calf down near the feed barn, untagged, all alone, crying, and obviously unfed. Her tummy was very empty. We had tagged a calf for every cow that had given birth, and the 11 remaining cows to calve in that pasture were all still PG. I guess one of the cows that calved in that pasture in the last couple days must have had a twin we didn't see. The calf was apparently abandoned and she must have followed the herd down when we came to feed hay. Its umbilical was already dry, so it could have been a day or two old. She was so hungry that she sucked anything that got close. She tried to get to the cow that had brought down a new calf that morning, but that one had no time for her and pushed her about 20 feet. We got colostrum in her, although she was likely a little old for the full effect. This morning we caught the cow that calved on the 16th (17 days ago) and put her in the chute. She still had milk, so we put the calf on her. She was pretty good and let it nurse for half an hour. We gave the calf 1/2 a bottle after to be sure it was enough and she took that too. This evening we repeated the process. To my surprise after we let the cow out, the calf went after her again and she let it nurse without pushing it away.
I wish I knew just how much milk the cows are producing. I had always assumed 4 or 5 days was about tops for grafting, but our friend is a Vet who has raised cattle his whole life, and he felt they would come back into their milk. Even if they don't have as much milk as they would have, the calves are still better off with a mother and a more normal life. I'll keep offering a bottle as long as there tummies don't look full.