HOW LONG TILL CALF NURSES

[DADOF4]

My daughter's heifer just had her first calf, it is up on his feet but has not nursed yet. How long before we should be concerned?

 

[dun]

If it hasn;t nursed within an hour at the longest you need to find out what the problem is. 10-15 minutes is all the longer I give them before I investigate the situation.

 

[msscamp]

My daughter's heifer just had her first calf, it is up on his feet but has not nursed yet. How long before we should be concerned?

I would be concerned (and intervening) if the calf had not nursed within the first hour following birth. If the weather is cold, wet, or snowy, I would be intervening within 30 minutes following birth.

 

[DADOF4]

When the calf goes to mom's rear she turns and faces him, to lick on him. It has been over an hour.

 

[dun]

When the calf goes to mom's rear she turns and faces him, to lick on him. It has been over an hour.

Catch her and tie her so the calf can nurse. Almost willing to bet it's a heifer and she doesn;t understand what she's supposed to do.

 

[DADOF4]

Thanks, on my way back to the barn!

 

[angie1]

Thanks, on my way back to the barn!

So??
Is it's belly full now?
Did your daughter get to help with her heifer?
Lots of fun having new babies. :nod:

 

[novatech]

If it hasn;t nursed within an hour at the longest you need to find out what the problem is. 10-15 minutes is all the longer I give them before I investigate the situation.

I've seen calves go a lot longer than 15 minutes before they figured out which end the meal was at. Last year, in a herd I take care of, I had a calf that went over 24 hrs. Just before I was going to pen her up she started nursing. She grew up just fine. It's the first thing I look for after a calf is born and I always worry but so far I have only had one I have had to take to the vet in the last several yrs. The vet did not seem to be alarmed. He did a blood test on the calf to see if it had received any colostrum. It had not so he gave it a shot of something. He fed the calf some replacer.Then he but marker on the cows teats and turned it back into a pen for observation. They ended up milking her out and feeding the calf via bottle. After that everything was fine. Her second calf was normal.
I know this is contrary to what I have read on these boards. Given that I hesitated to even post it. But if I only gave every cow 15 minutes I would be working my tail off all calving season. So now I am wondering if this could be a breed thing.

 

[dun]

If it hasn;t nursed within an hour at the longest you need to find out what the problem is. 10-15 minutes is all the longer I give them before I investigate the situation.

I've seen calves go a lot longer than 15 minutes before they figured out which end the meal was at. Last year, in a herd I take care of, I had a calf that went over 24 hrs. Just before I was going to pen her up she started nursing. She grew up just fine. It's the first thing I look for after a calf is born and I always worry but so far I have only had one I have had to take to the vet in the last several yrs. The vet did not seem to be alarmed. He did a blood test on the calf to see if it had received any colostrum. It had not so he gave it a shot of something. He fed the calf some replacer.Then he but marker on the cows teats and turned it back into a pen for observation. They ended up milking her out and feeding the calf via bottle. After that everything was fine. Her second calf was normal.
I know this is contrary to what I have read on these boards. Given that I hesitated to even post it. But if I only gave every cow 15 minutes I would be working my tail off all calving season. So now I am wondering if this could be a breed thing.

The only ones we've ever had like that were from heifers. There's a chance that some of them take longer. If I don;t happen to see them being born and I can tell they;ve nursed I just assume they will be ok.

 

[DADOF4]

First I want to thank everyone for their advice, it was very helpful. There's not much worse than not knowing what to do. The little man is doing fine now. This was an Angus heifer my daughter ( 17 yrs old. )bought last year to show, she had a blast. She is a city girl that always wanted to be a cowgirl. My wife and I were eating out last night when we received the panicked call "MY BABY IS ABOUT TO HAVE HER CALF" so here we go. Naturally we had to pull the calf and then mom would not let him nurse. I guess this was a crash course for my daughter into the wonderful world of cowgirling. She was at the barn at sunrise and has not come home for breakfast yet. Happy as a clam. I will try to get some pictures on here later. Thanks again. :wave:

 

[Angus Cowman]

glad to see your daughter that dedicated to her cows they will teach her many things never learned in a classroom
Congrtas on the first calf

 

[Angus Cowman]

First I want to thank everyone for their advice, it was very helpful. There's not much worse than not knowing what to do. The little man is doing fine now. This was an Angus heifer my daughter ( 17 yrs old. )bought last year to show, she had a blast. She is a city girl that always wanted to be a cowgirl. My wife and I were eating out last night when we received the panicked call "MY BABY IS ABOUT TO HAVE HER CALF" so here we go. Naturally we had to pull the calf and then mom would not let him nurse. I guess this was a crash course for my daughter into the wonderful world of cowgirling. She was at the barn at sunrise and has not come home for breakfast yet. Happy as a clam. I will try to get some pictures on here later. Thanks again. :wave:

No wonder it wouldnt let the calf nurse. You had to pull the calf. Use a low birthweight bull next time.

Baxter
Using a low bw bull doesn't gaurantee not having to pull a calf I have pulled calves from low bw bulls and I suspect many others on here have also the low bw bull just lessens the likely hood of pulling them no more than using a high weaning weight bull will gaurantee you to wean heavy calves out of all your cows

the old master is at it again

 

[Bez+]

First I want to thank everyone for their advice, it was very helpful. There's not much worse than not knowing what to do. The little man is doing fine now. This was an Angus heifer my daughter ( 17 yrs old. )bought last year to show, she had a blast. She is a city girl that always wanted to be a cowgirl. My wife and I were eating out last night when we received the panicked call "MY BABY IS ABOUT TO HAVE HER CALF" so here we go. Naturally we had to pull the calf and then mom would not let him nurse. I guess this was a crash course for my daughter into the wonderful world of cowgirling. She was at the barn at sunrise and has not come home for breakfast yet. Happy as a clam. I will try to get some pictures on here later. Thanks again. :wave:

No wonder it wouldnt let the calf nurse. You had to pull the calf. Use a low birthweight bull next time.

It can happen even if you use a low birth weight bull - the other half of the equation also plays a big part.

Glad it all worked out

Bez+

 

[Bez+]

AC - beat me by one minute!!

Bez+

 

[Angus Cowman]

AC - beat me by one minute!!

Bez+

Sorry Bez

 

[grannysoo]

Good luck! Glad to see your daughter raising cows. :nod:

 

[ArrowHBrand]

Heifers are dumb when it comes to calving because they don't know what's going on or what to do. All of our cows when they calved once the calf was up we would put it to the cow's udder and encourage it to nurse. Heifers always got more attention because sometimes they will kick at the calf when it tries to nurse starting things on the wrong foot.