Need advice on heifer not taking calf

[DAYMON]

I have a red angus heifer that had a calf on feb 27th, when I checked the cows that morning she was down there by herself and this calf kept getting up and trying to nurse and she would step back and get a run and knock him down and then drive her head into his side. She never licked it or anything anyway I got them up and seperated the calf and gave it a bottle of colostrum went back that evening and got her in the head gate and taught the calf to nurse through the fence he picked it up pretty fast. So now here it is over a week later and I have got her up twice a day and let the calf nurse after the first day I didn't have to use the head gate but still have to have her in the chute or she kicks him and runs to the other side of the pen. I've tried correcting her when she kicks but she kept running I tried crowding her behind a gate and correcting her when she kicked but she kept getting crazy. I have put out feed and let him try to nurse while she is eating she is just real good at kicking and eating. While in the ally to the chute she is calm and doesn't kick unless he gets real rough with her. I was just wondering of some ideas to try I was thinking if nothing else I can do this for a month and then turn them out and let him chase her down or get milk from some of the other cows and supplement some calf starter. The other idea I had was to strap a couple of cattle panels to her side and turn her out then he could chase her down and know what to do .

 

[robert]

is she in good condition? if so ship her a$$ out and save yourself some grief, either bottle baby the calf until you can graft him on to another cow (or persuade a better milking cow to raise 2). If they haven't got the maternal instinct after a couple of days then you're probably SOL. Plus, every time you put that calf in with the psycho there's a chance she really nail him or break his leg.

 

[dun]

is she in good condition? if so ship her a$$ out and save yourself some grief, either bottle baby the calf until you can graft him on to another cow (or persuade a better milking cow to raise 2). If they haven't got the maternal instinct after a couple of days then you're probably SOL. Plus, every time you put that calf in with the psycho there's a chance she really nail him or break his leg.

Yup, what he said!

 

[DAYMON]

thanks for the advice, yes she is in real good condition best looking cow I have. I think I will take your advice and ship her next week. I don't think she will kill him as she doesn't bother him unless he tries to nurse and he doesn't try to nurse until she is in the chute. I have let her out before he was done an time or two to check if she is still crazy and she still kicks at him but doesn't go after him.

thanks

Daymon

 

[3waycross]

thanks for the advice, yes she is in real good condition best looking cow I have. I think I will take your advice and ship her next week. I don't think she will kill him as she doesn't bother him unless he tries to nurse and he doesn't try to nurse until she is in the chute. I have let her out before he was done an time or two to check if she is still crazy and she still kicks at him but doesn't go after him.

thanks

Daymon

First of all I am sure I am not alone when I say if you are gonna strap panels to her sides I want to see some pictures.

Now seriously. Have you considered hobbling her. It will stop the kicking and restrain her enuf to let him suck if he is persistant.

Now if it was me I would try the hobbles for a week and if she didn't straighten out I'd ship her.

BTW my guess is the reason she is in the best shape of all your cows is that she keeps it all for herself. I would rather have one that looked a little run down by fall and weaned a 650lb calf than a beauty contestant that weaned a 550pounder.

I've tried correcting her For the record I would sure like to know what this means.

 

[kenny thomas]

First of all I am sure I am not alone when I say if you are gonna strap panels to her sides I want to see some pictures.

Now seriously. Have you considered hobbling her. It will stop the kicking and restrain her enuf to let him suck if he is persistant.

Now if it was me I would try the hobbles for a week and if she didn't straighten out I'd ship her.

I've tried correcting her For the record I would sure like to know what this means.[/quote]

3-way, have you tried the hobbles? I had thought about it but have never even seen a set here.
Maybe I am hard headed but if I had the time I would take the month to see if I could make her take it. You can sell her anytime you get tired of fooling with them.

 

[DAYMON]

Well correcting her usually involved a stick or a hose and a few swats. I can stop her from kicking while the is in the chute with my voice but when she is out of the chute she just runs to the other side of the pen. I will see if I can look up how to hobble and try that he is very persistant when he isn't full. He even trys from behind so she can't kick but she runs from him.

 

[backhoeboogie]

I built a nursing crate for my nurse cows. They take any calf after three days or so.

Last summer one of the heifers I bought back in'08 as a light weight rejected a calf. I had to put her in that crate for over a week. She eventually took the calf but she was a pain until then.

 

[BRAFORDMAN]

I had a heifer do the same thing last year. Only i was still in school one more week. SO the calf was bottled until school got out(1 week). Heifer rammed calf and kicked, he was scared of her. Keep up the chute thing if you have the time, when she kicks get a pine branch(thats what I used) and when she kicks yell and hit her. The 3rd day i did this the calf was waiting in the chute for me. :lol: .
The 7th day, the heifer stood up and the calf went to her and nursed without her being in the chute. And this happened after the heifer did not see her baby for a wholle week.

If you like the heifer and have the time it does not hurt to keep trying.
Another thing that helped was I let my dogs walk through the pen and the heifer moo'd at the calf and protected him. Which in my opinion was her mothering instinct kicking in.

Cant say it will work for you, but it worked for me.

 

[randiliana]

Hobbles are the way to go, if you want to keep dealing with her. The best are the ones with the chain between them, but figure 8 ones work too, she just won't be able to move as much. You hobble her hind legs together, above the fetlocks. Then she can't kick him. She can still bunt him though, so you would still have to watch at least for the first little while to make sure he is able to suck her.

Personally, I think I'd send this one down the road. If you have to hobble her to get her to take her own calf she isn't much of a mother.....

 

[3waycross]

First of all I am sure I am not alone when I say if you are gonna strap panels to her sides I want to see some pictures.

Now seriously. Have you considered hobbling her. It will stop the kicking and restrain her enuf to let him suck if he is persistant.

Now if it was me I would try the hobbles for a week and if she didn't straighten out I'd ship her.

I've tried correcting her For the record I would sure like to know what this means.

3-way, have you tried the hobbles? I had thought about it but have never even seen a set here.
Maybe I am hard headed but if I had the time I would take the month to see if I could make her take it. You can sell her anytime you get tired of fooling with them.[/quote]

Am doing it right now with a heifer that is almost identical to this one. NOT one of mine. I am helping a friend calve out another persons heifers. They are to pur it mildly a bit of a mess. I woulda culled half of them at weaning.

Conclusion........after 4 days she is not taking the calf. The sale is friday she better come around by then or she's a 1/4 pounder with cheese.

 

[plumber_greg]

I don't know if I agree with you guys. I've had heifers and cows not claim calves, cussed em', tied em' up, cried, cussed em some more. The calf finally learned to suck from behind, rob other cows if necessary, and turned out ok. Just because a cow won't take one this year has nothing to do with their mothering ability next year. I'm stubborn with animals, just don't know when I'm beat. Daymon, if the heifer is the kind and type you want, and you don't mind screwing with her twice a day and have the time, I'd outlast her. IMO four days isn't long enough to make her take him. I know 3 way and Randi, are probably more of a cattleman, and woman, than I am, so they may be right. I just hate to give up a heifer I raised just because she is trouble her first year. JMHO gs

 

[Betty]

I think if you are going to keep trying, you need to make the experience in the chute a pleasant one.
Disciplining her isn't going to help much, or screaming at her or hitting her with a branch. You might
try some oxytocin (couple ccs) about a minute or so before you bring the calf up to the chute, and rub her bag a little your self and see if she has mastitis. Feed her a little in the chute.
I'd try it a little longer, unless it's too dangerous. Some of them just don't want to be mothers.

 

[BRAFORDMAN]

Same thing happened to a brangus heifer I had 2 years ago. She bred early when we bought her, but we did not know. They guy had his heifers running with his whole herd, he did not have a place to separate them.

She calved at probably 17 months, which stunted her growth. She would not take the baby. So the baby was bottle fed.

Since the heifer was so young when she calved I gave her another chance.
Well the cow is now between 800-900 pounds, maybe less but she is no where the size of my other cows.
Last year she had her second calf out of an angus bull.
I had two brangus that weaned the biggest calves last year, one was a 1st calver and the other was a heiferette(cow that calved to early the first time). One was 598 lbs and the other was 605 lbs at weaning, without feed. Cows were on grass, salt and trace mineralthat year, with a bag of cubes maybe twice a month to bring them up

Do not know which calved weighed what, but there were only two heavy calves at weaning that year out of my heifers.

SO somtimes it does not hurt to keep a heifer who had problems because she may end up a HECK of a cow!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[randiliana]

We usually don't keep a heifer that we have to fight with for days to get her to take her own calf. If it is a foster calf, that's different.

Last year however, we had a real wild one. She calved out in the pasture, got up and ran away from the calf. DH dragged the calf up to the barn and then went to get the heifer. He had all the gates set so she could go right in, and amazingly got her on the first try. Met her at the barn door as she was on her way back out. Locked her in with the calf and she never even sniffed it. So he let her out into the cull/butcher/etc pen. Bottled the calf for a couple days til we needed a foster calf. Fought with that cow for about a week to get her to take him and she never really wanted to, but she tolerated him. Ended up putting that pair into the same pen as the 'real' mom and one day (about a 10 days after the calf was born) we looked over the fence and the calf was up sucking his real mother. She took him and raised him. Weighed about 600 lbs at weaning. It was a real strange case! She settled down a lot and will calve here again as a 3 year old. Hopefully she's a little smarter this time or she won't get another chance.

 

[dun]

I have the time but no longer have the patience or inclination to mess with them. If they won;t take the calf in a day the cow is shipped and the calf is (with one exception) gone to someone wanting a bottle calf.

 

[DAYMON]

Well I hobbled her this evening and after a wild bucking show she settled down and let the calf nurse. Do I just leave the hobbles on for a while? Here is a pic of him nursing.

 

[3waycross]

If they won't endanger her life because of terrain then leave em on.

BTW ain't that a pretty sight. You might want to give her a treat for letting him suck. That will go a lot further than an ass whippin. Reinforcing good behaviour always works.

 

[DAYMON]

I gave her a few pounds of cubes she is just in a small lot at night and I open it up to about a 1 acre lot in the day all flat I think I will leave her like this for a while. Thanks for the advice. Still might sell her but I might give her a bit more time I don't have much money in her and it would be expensive to replace her now but I could make a little money on her if I sell her now.

thanks again

Daymon

 

[randiliana]

Yep, leave them on her. Usually takes a 5-7 days for us. But you should be able to tell by how she is acting towards him. If you're wrong you can always put them back on her.