How soon should you graft a calf on a cow?

[tom4018]

A bred cow that I bought had dead twins Monday, tried to find a baby to put on here yesterday with no luck. What is the longest you have let the cow go before putting one on her? Next sale here is Thursday, one local dairy didn't have anymore yesterday may try some more, Really don't want to end up with a bottle calf right now but wanted cow to pay her pay.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Milk her out until you get a calf if you want her to be a nurse cow.

 

[Caustic Burno]

I have never stuck one on after two days. Guess I was lucky until this year on the heifer that lost one.
Never did find one for her.

 

[Lucky_P]

Tom,
Knowing what I know, and seeing what I've seen, I don't think I'd ever again bring in a dairy calf or a 'salebarn' calf to graft onto a cow that lost her calf. I'd either cut my losses and ship her, or just take the hit and roll her to the next breeding group. Fall calvers rarely get a second chance, 'cause I have to feed 'em through two winters to get another calf out of 'em; spring-calvers, maybe...

Too many 'nasties' out there for me to take a chance bringing 'em in by way of a calf just to make me think that cow is 'earning her keep'.

Only switcheroos we've done in years have been calves whose dams refused them(they took a ride to town), grafted onto cows that had lost a calf. Last one never really took to the calf - she'd let him nurse in the chute, or if there was a pan of feed in front of her, but after that, she'd kick/butt the heck out of him.
Some take to 'em in just a couple of days, but have had some that had to be penned up with them and run up into the chute for nursing for a week to ten days before the link took hold.

 

[Dave]

I have done one at four days. But I don't like going that long. The sooner the better. I had one once that lost twins like yours. I got a calf right away but the stupid calf wouldn't suck. I ended up tubing the calf for four days or so to keep it going. The cow behaved great the whole time standing like a statue for me. Finally the calf got the idea and started sucking. After that the cow mothered the calf like mad but wouldn't let me near her.

 

[tom4018]

Tom,
Knowing what I know, and seeing what I've seen, I don't think I'd ever again bring in a dairy calf or a 'salebarn' calf to graft onto a cow that lost her calf. I'd either cut my losses and ship her, or just take the hit and roll her to the next breeding group. Fall calvers rarely get a second chance, 'cause I have to feed 'em through two winters to get another calf out of 'em; spring-calvers, maybe...

Too many 'nasties' out there for me to take a chance bringing 'em in by way of a calf just to make me think that cow is 'earning her keep'.

Only switcheroos we've done in years have been calves whose dams refused them(they took a ride to town), grafted onto cows that had lost a calf. Last one never really took to the calf - she'd let him nurse in the chute, or if there was a pan of feed in front of her, but after that, she'd kick/butt the heck out of him.
Some take to 'em in just a couple of days, but have had some that had to be penned up with them and run up into the chute for nursing for a week to ten days before the link took hold.

Lucky,
That crossed my mind. At this point I just think I will pass on trying to graft one. Working off the farm makes it harder to do it also. The guy thought she was a March or April calver, so that throwed me off. Don't guess it really mattered as she probably would have had trouble any way, looks like the calves never got up, wonder if she had a hard time or they got tangled in some way. Proably just let her have a second chance, even if I culled her probably would not be a big loss with current slaughter prices.

 

[stocky]

Tom,
Ideally, the sooner the better. However, that is not always possible. Almost always, I put a new calf on a cow that loses a baby or even up to a few weeks old. The number one rule to make it easier and having a high success rate is to get a calf 3-5 weeks old that just came off another cow. This is easily done at a sales barn when the split an old cow and calf. Put your cow in the smallest compartment in your stock trailer. Put the calf in with her. Leave them together overnight and by morning the calf will be sucking. If you leave them in the trailer 2 or 3 days, they will almost always take, but you can also turn her out for an hour during the day for feed and water, then put her back in with the calf. The key is to keep them in the trailer, together. They will bond.
You do not want to get a calf less than a couple of weeks old and you do not want to get a dairy calf or a bottle calf. These will not have the strength, aggressiveness, or know-how to get in and fight to make the cow accept them.
Today, I bought 3 calves at the sales barn that were split from their mothers at the sale. 2 were for me and 1 for a neighbor. We lost the calves a few nights ago when cows freshened in below zero temps in the snow. I put the calves with the cows at 5pm, by the time I drove the 3 miles from the pen to my house, one calf was sucking. By 9pm the other calf was sucking. One cow lost her calf 3 days ago and the other lost her's a week ago. With all the snow and ice, there have been few sales to buy calves. Once you get more than a week after the loss, the cow may not come back to much milk, even after taking the calf. However, like Backhoe said, if you milk her out, she will keep giving milk and you can put the calf on anytime one becomes available. Since I have been using this method the last 10 years, I have had a 100 percent success rate.
I used to get the baby calf and fight the mother and hold the calf up and try to teach it to suck. After I learned this method, I keep thinking what a fool I was and how lucky I was that I did not get hurt.
Good luck, and pm me if you have any questions.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Tom,
Ideally, the sooner the better. However, that is not always possible. Almost always, I put a new calf on a cow that loses a baby or even up to a few weeks old. The number one rule to make it easier and having a high success rate is to get a calf 3-5 weeks old that just came off another cow. This is easily done at a sales barn when the split an old cow and calf. Put your cow in the smallest compartment in your stock trailer. Put the calf in with her. Leave them together overnight and by morning the calf will be sucking. If you leave them in the trailer 2 or 3 days, they will almost always take, but you can also turn her out for an hour during the day for feed and water, then put her back in with the calf. The key is to keep them in the trailer, together. They will bond.
You do not want to get a calf less than a couple of weeks old and you do not want to get a dairy calf or a bottle calf. These will not have the strength, aggressiveness, or know-how to get in and fight to make the cow accept them.
Today, I bought 3 calves at the sales barn that were split from their mothers at the sale. 2 were for me and 1 for a neighbor. We lost the calves a few nights ago when cows freshened in below zero temps in the snow. I put the calves with the cows at 5pm, by the time I drove the 3 miles from the pen to my house, one calf was sucking. By 9pm the other calf was sucking. One cow lost her calf 3 days ago and the other lost her's a week ago. With all the snow and ice, there have been few sales to buy calves. Once you get more than a week after the loss, the cow may not come back to much milk, even after taking the calf. However, like Backhoe said, if you milk her out, she will keep giving milk and you can put the calf on anytime one becomes available. Since I have been using this method the last 10 years, I have had a 100 percent success rate.
I used to get the baby calf and fight the mother and hold the calf up and try to teach it to suck. After I learned this method, I keep thinking what a fool I was and how lucky I was that I did not get hurt.
Good luck, and pm me if you have any questions.

Great tip.
Thanks old dog learned a new trick.