help with calf

[chadreed88]

I was given a calf yesterday by a guy who worked some cows and one of the cows had a calf but her tits were to big for the calf to suck. He gave the calf to me because I've been bottling two others due to cow problems. I gave it 2 bottles of the colostrum powder packets one yesterday and one this morning along with part of a bottle of milk replacer. I had a cow up that's fixing to calf and tried to milk her but only got a pint from her and then just gave it to the calf. Is there anything you recommend me do to increase the chances of survival? Would it be better if I could get some milk from dairy to give it for awhile or is it any better that milk replacer? I don't know if she got any colostrum from its mom but I would guess not because she was pretty drawed up. She just seems to be week and drawn up but doesn't look or act sick. Would like any recommendations on what to try and get this calf going. It eats real well from the bottle just to take into consideration. Thanks and pm me or email me with any advice.

 

[hillsdown]

How old is the calf and how soon after it was born did you get colostrum in it?

 

[chadreed88]

I would say its about 2-3 days old but unsure exactly. He brought it around 1 pm yesterday and we got colostrum in it about 2 hours after that.

 

[hillsdown]

Well lets hope the calf got something from mom as it is unlikely that the it absorbed very much if any IgG's from the colostrum you gave it but it is better to give colostrum than not. I would give it an oral dose of B12 and A&D and then start you calf on really good started milk replacer it is designed for the first couple of weeks of a calf's life. Then you can feed it normal all milk replacer that you give your other calves. Good luck with it and just watch it so if it does start to scour or go down hill you and treat it asap..Sounds like it is doing well if it is hungry for the bottle all the time..