New Calf

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Hey guys - quit being a hard "butt". If a calf is sick - it needs tending to. I cannot believe you ignore a sick calf.
My take on the original post, was that the calf must have been a bit lathargic and dehydrated. In stead of jumping down his throat - I would have asked if he thought the calf had sucked the other 3 teats. If so, take calf's temp and evaluate from there.
And, no, you should NOT give antibiotics unless the calf has a fever.

 

[cypressfarms]

There are a few Einsteins out there, but most people are just like me, you do not know anything until you are taught. That is why I asked for help on this forum.

I doubt Einstein could have raised a cow

I think the old adage, "If you don't have something nice to say ......" should have been heeded in this thread.

However, towards this thread, I have a regular day job. During the winter I rarely get home before dark. BUT, we (I include my kids) still drive the mule out almost every night to check the cows. A couple of high powered spotlights will do wonders if there is a problem. And as a bonus my 8 year old son loves to shine for coons, so it winds up being a family adventure almost everynight. This past week my son shined on something on the ground. He smiled and said "Hey look dad!". I then slammed on the brakes and threw it into reverse. I have no interest in seeing a skunk at 10 feet.

Just curious, why not let the calf suck down the big teat? Or was it so big that it couldn't get it into it's mouth? Iso's probably spot on when he said leave them alone. I may have given the calf some electrolytes if I thought it was dehydrated, but not antibiotics..... My :2cents:

 

[SPJ]

Let me try this again. Monday morning 6 am, the calf was up and standing by mom when I went to work. Monday night about 8 pm, got home and watered and fed the cows. I watched the Monday calf for about an hour, she did not nurse during that time so I was concerned about that. I went and got a flashlight and looked at the mom's teats and could tell the front left had been nursed on because it was one of the big ones. The two in the back, I couldn't tell, so I got in the pen with them and went searching for some poop. I found some yellow poop which my thinking was for something to go out, something has to be going in. I guess I compared her to the calf that was born on Sunday, which was running around like a race horse. My concern for her was that she not very frisky and the way her hide felt. I should of asked how often should a new calf nurse. Thanks, Phil

 

[cross_7]

Let me try this again. Monday morning 6 am, the calf was up and standing by mom when I went to work. Monday night about 8 pm, got home and watered and fed the cows. I watched the Monday calf for about an hour, she did not nurse during that time so I was concerned about that. I went and got a flashlight and looked at the mom's teats and could tell the front left had been nursed on because it was one of the big ones. The two in the back, I couldn't tell, so I got in the pen with them and went searching for some poop. I found some yellow poop which my thinking was for something to go out, something has to be going in. I guess I compared her to the calf that was born on Sunday, which was running around like a race horse. My concern for her was that she not very frisky and the way her hide felt. I should of asked how often should a new calf nurse. Thanks, Phil

I don't really know.
The cows stay with the calves all night so I don't know how often they nurse during the night.
The less than a month old the calves, the cows generally go check on them and nurse them about 3 times during daylight
They are up nursing at daylight, then about noonish they graze around, nurse calves and lie around, then about sundown they get up nurse calves and graze around

 

[Ouachita]

There are a few Einsteins out there, but most people are just like me, you do not know anything until you are taught. That is why I asked for help on this forum.

I doubt Einstein could have raised a cow

I think the old adage, "If you don't have something nice to say ......" should have been heeded in this thread.

However, towards this thread, I have a regular day job. During the winter I rarely get home before dark. BUT, we (I include my kids) still drive the mule out almost every night to check the cows. A couple of high powered spotlights will do wonders if there is a problem. And as a bonus my 8 year old son loves to shine for coons, so it winds up being a family adventure almost everynight. This past week my son shined on something on the ground. He smiled and said "Hey look dad!". I then slammed on the brakes and threw it into reverse. I have no interest in seeing a skunk at 10 feet.

Just curious, why not let the calf suck down the big teat? Or was it so big that it couldn't get it into it's mouth? Iso's probably spot on when he said leave them alone. I may have given the calf some electrolytes if I thought it was dehydrated, but not antibiotics..... My :2cents:

You just described my life/kids. Fun ain't it

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

SPJ - there's no set rule on how often they will nurse as a newborn. "Generally" anywhere from every 2 hours to 4-6 hours. Really depends on how aggressively they fill up & how much milk mom has available at each nursing.
Whenever a c/c pair is in a pen with no other calves and you find the yellow sticky calf manure - you KNOW the calf sucked. Some calves are just lazy, slow-pokes. Their first BM (before colostrum is processed) is very dark (almost black) and usually comes out in one long tube. Usually won't find it because mom usually eats it.

 

[chippie]

Do you know how to do a pinch test to check for dehydration? Pinch the skin where it is loose, on the side of the neck or shoulder. If it stays in a peak and doesn't return to normal fairly quickly, the calf is dehydrated. Some calves give up pretty quickly when it doesn't get enough to eat.

Hope that it is doing better today.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Pictures of cows and calves on another thread. Look healthy to me.

 

[SPJ]

Do you know how to do a pinch test to check for dehydration? Pinch the skin where it is loose, on the side of the neck or shoulder. If it stays in a peak and doesn't return to normal fairly quickly, the calf is dehydrated. Some calves give up pretty quickly when it doesn't get enough to eat.

Hope that it is doing better today.

Thanks everyone for your help.

Chippie - What you are saying is what I stumbled on to. I guess I was not very good at communicating that. Yes, everybody is doing fine and I am getting ready to let them out of the pens and into the pasture. Thanks, Phil