Farminlund
Well-known member
I have a cow whose calf was sickly since birth. She has raised good calves in the past, so I assumed the issue was with the calf. I thought the calf might be retarded or brain damaged as it never acted "normal" - no frolicking, excessive sleeping, standing arched backed, etc. Needless to say it died after about a month.
Two days after its death I had an orphaned twin on my hands - rather than try to get it back on its real ma, I decided it better to work with the cow who just lost her calf. I checked her quarters & found some milk in both rears, nearly nothing in one front, & nothing in the other front. I have managed to graft the calf & have supplemented the calf with bottle milk for the past week (calf now a week old & nursing when it wants for 5 days - first 2 days were 3X/da chute nursings). The situation appears to be staying status quo, with the calf craving milk from me &/or the wife (we were giving a qt twice a day & starting yesterday cut that to 1 qt/day).
I was expecting the rear quarters to come back to "normal" & at least an increase in the front quarters. Am I just wishing? Have I given the cow long enough to increase her output due to regular calf nursing? Is there any shots or other technique(s) I could try to increase her milk (she is getting high quality mixed grass hay) to where it once was or at least enough to keep this calf going w/o my intervention (she has raised fine calves in previous years)?
Two days after its death I had an orphaned twin on my hands - rather than try to get it back on its real ma, I decided it better to work with the cow who just lost her calf. I checked her quarters & found some milk in both rears, nearly nothing in one front, & nothing in the other front. I have managed to graft the calf & have supplemented the calf with bottle milk for the past week (calf now a week old & nursing when it wants for 5 days - first 2 days were 3X/da chute nursings). The situation appears to be staying status quo, with the calf craving milk from me &/or the wife (we were giving a qt twice a day & starting yesterday cut that to 1 qt/day).
I was expecting the rear quarters to come back to "normal" & at least an increase in the front quarters. Am I just wishing? Have I given the cow long enough to increase her output due to regular calf nursing? Is there any shots or other technique(s) I could try to increase her milk (she is getting high quality mixed grass hay) to where it once was or at least enough to keep this calf going w/o my intervention (she has raised fine calves in previous years)?