> You may have to do this a couple
> of times till the calve gets the
> smell of the cow from her milk,
> but here is what we have done.
> Restrain the cow, a chute is ok
> but ussually restricts the ability
> of the calf to reach the tests, a
> head catch only is better, best is
> just a rope around her neck and
> snubbed to a tree or something
> solid fairly close to a fence so
> she can't waltz around and get
> away from the calf. Loop a rope
> around the cow as close to the
> hooks as possible and just in
> front of the udder, snug it up
> TIGHT. It's the same principle as
> dairies use on some kickers. Shove
> the calf under the cow and strip a
> few squirts from each quarter on
> it's nose around the mouth. If the
> little booger wants to nurse it
> will ussually catch on real quick.
> While you have the cow restrained
> check her udder and insure she
> doesn't have mastitis or some
> other problem. Frequently heifers
> will have so much milk and her
> udder will be very tender, when
> the calf tries to nurse, it hurts
> and she will kick or push it away.
> With our cows in 40 plus years
> we've had to do this exactly once.
> I've seen it in a number of other
> herds over the years but it isn't
> common. Sometimes if a calf is
> real eager and there is another
> cow in milk it will be able to
> sneak a meal. I'm surprised that
> it;s still alive and active itf it
> hadn't gotten something to eat in
> two days. If she still won't claim
> it and keeps acting agressive
> towards it, bottle feed the calf
> and have the cow grow wheels.
> There's no sense in feeding a
> freeloader for another year only
> to find out she'll do it again. If
> the maternal thing hasn't kicked
> in after a couple days of having
> the calf nurse it probably never
> will. Oh yah, after the calf has
> nursed some from each quarter and
> relieved some of the pressure,
> slack the flank rope a little and
> see how she reacts. The heifer we
> did it with just stood there and
> let the calf nurse. Within maybe
> ten minutes we had the flank rope
> off and turned her loose. No more
> problems. But it depends on how
> the cow behaves.
> dun
Some one wrote here before, and I tried it and it worked, that after you squirt some of the milk on the calf's nose and mouth to take the calf around and let the mother smell of its nose and mouth, thus letting her know it is her calf.
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