no mothering inclination

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Okay.... day five... I might as well be nursing the calf myself as to fight that 1200 pound cow to TRY to get her to stand still and let the calf suck. She kicks like a son of a gun and three days in hobbles didn't change her mind much. We took the hobbles off, and back to knocking the daylight out of the calf she went. If she isn't kicking the stuffing out of the little bugger, she is head butting it across the pen or the pasture.... I don't know how bad the calf is hurt, but I don't trust her mom with her, so I take the calf away. Mom comes to find the baby and then won't let her suck. I stand there and hold the mother and she may or may not stand still. The calf sucks at the teat for twenty to thirty minutes and still acts hungry. Tonight, the cow bawled the whole time the calf was nursing and the calf REALLY acted hungry afterwards, so I broke down and fed it a bottle. It ate the whole two quarts. I was in a cow camp one time and saw cows hobbled and almost in straight jackets while the guys tried to make them mother up. I don't know how successful they were. In the morning at six am, I will try again, but I just don't know what to think. Do I have a bottle baby here? If I leave the calf out in the field with the mother, the calf will follow her, but the cow never touches the calf. The calf is spunky enough, but I just don't know what to make of all of this. How many more days should I keep trying?

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Bottle feed the calf, eat the cow.

dunmovin farms

> Okay.... day five... I might as
> well be nursing the calf myself as
> to fight that 1200 pound cow to
> TRY to get her to stand still and
> let the calf suck. She kicks like
> a son of a gun and three days in
> hobbles didn't change her mind
> much. We took the hobbles off, and
> back to knocking the daylight out
> of the calf she went. If she isn't
> kicking the stuffing out of the
> little bugger, she is head butting
> it across the pen or the
> pasture.... I don't know how bad
> the calf is hurt, but I don't
> trust her mom with her, so I take
> the calf away. Mom comes to find
> the baby and then won't let her
> suck. I stand there and hold the
> mother and she may or may not
> stand still. The calf sucks at the
> teat for twenty to thirty minutes
> and still acts hungry. Tonight,
> the cow bawled the whole time the
> calf was nursing and the calf
> REALLY acted hungry afterwards, so
> I broke down and fed it a bottle.
> It ate the whole two quarts. I was
> in a cow camp one time and saw
> cows hobbled and almost in
> straight jackets while the guys
> tried to make them mother up. I
> don't know how successful they
> were. In the morning at six am, I
> will try again, but I just don't
> know what to think. Do I have a
> bottle baby here? If I leave the
> calf out in the field with the
> mother, the calf will follow her,
> but the cow never touches the
> calf. The calf is spunky enough,
> but I just don't know what to make
> of all of this. How many more days
> should I keep trying?
 
Take a rope with a loop in one end. Throw the looped end over the cow. Now, put the other end of the rope around a sterdy pipe and put it through the loop. Place the rope right in front of the udder and pull as hard as you can. Let the rope hold you up (that's how hard you need to pull). This will cut off the circulation to the cow's legs and she won't have any choice but to stand still. We use it on the dairy all the time, and it works like a charm.
 
We do the same thing but without the pipe.

dunmovin farms

> Take a rope with a loop in one
> end. Throw the looped end over the
> cow. Now, put the other end of the
> rope around a sterdy pipe and put
> it through the loop. Place the
> rope right in front of the udder
> and pull as hard as you can. Let
> the rope hold you up (that's how
> hard you need to pull). This will
> cut off the circulation to the
> cow's legs and she won't have any
> choice but to stand still. We use
> it on the dairy all the time, and
> it works like a charm.
 
Thank you. We have gone ahead and bottle fed the baby. Because the mom is a first calfer and had a rough time birthing, the cow camp has decided to try her one more time. Between her inexperience, and ours, it is a wonder she isn't kicking and bulling anything that walks near her. Perhaps she just had too many humans trying different things around her to be a success at anything. When we turned her out to the pasture, she never even looked back. We keep the calf in a pen or paddock near the main herd and mom comes by with as much curiosity in her as the other animals in the herd. I will put your answer in my "birthing" notebook and next year, we shall see. If she does the same thing next year, we will eat her.

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IMHO dunmovin's 05/08/02 advice was right on. I had a similar situation with a heifer and gave her one more year -- she had another great looking calf and walked away from it too, without a care. She's lucky I had already put my hunting rifle away for the season. Have talked to others in my area and the general feeling is that if they do it with the first calf they are very likely to continue the lack of mothering in the future. Better to not waste any more time and money on her medicine, wormers, winter feeding, etc. Sell her and use the proceeds towards a replacement, perhaps buy a "pair" with a real young calf.
 
Boy! Do we know about the rifle situation. Because we are just starting out and have so few head, I think we can afford to do this again. I think I told the crew that this cow is probably going to do the same thing next time. My dad, who sold me the first batch, has apologized for all the trouble I am having that he NEVER had, but I think it is because we could afford to make the mistakes... meaning we had more money that brains, if you will. We will eat her, but she is about the fourth one on the place that has to go onto the platter, so I might as well get one more calf from her. I still can't shake that feeling that we were as much her problem as her own attitude. I value your and Dunmovin's input and know what you are saying is correct. It is that case again: Do what I say and NOT what I (Omak) do.

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If she rebreeds regularly and calves without any more problems, I'd keep her around (assuming she accepts the next calf). You've got a lot of vet bills and time invested in her. But it's important NOT to keep any breeding stock out of her. Calving difficulty and prolapse are heritable, meaning if a cow has a problem with those traits she is likely to pass them on to their daughters and grand daughters. Keeping breeding stock (heifers OR bulls) out of these cows will just prolong the problems in your herd. Believe me, it's much more fun (and profitable) to have those heifers calve without a vet's help. Good luck….

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The prolapse issue. The mother didn't have any apparent problem until this, her fifth pregnancy. Am I still looking at an inherited trait in her heifer calf, or did I cause this by over conditioning and not having enough exercise area for the cow to keep in calving shape?

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If this is her fifth calf without ever having prolapsed before I would lay it to an aberration, either feed, condition, calf size, or just damn bad luck.

dunmovin farms

> The prolapse issue. The mother
> didn't have any apparent problem
> until this, her fifth pregnancy.
> Am I still looking at an inherited
> trait in her heifer calf, or did I
> cause this by over conditioning
> and not having enough exercise
> area for the cow to keep in
> calving shape?
 
Sometimes.... I think of that saying: If it weren't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all. On the other hand, I am learning a lot of things that people don't get to learn until they have been ranching for fifty years. There MUST be a pony in here somewhere.... lol

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Personally, I still wouldn't keep any heifers out of that cow. But if it didn't show up until her fifth calf, it's probably not a problem. Management is very important, but I think you're blaming yourself too much for the calving problems. My limited experience with Limousin showed them to be very hard calvers. Good luck...

> The prolapse issue. The mother
> didn't have any apparent problem
> until this, her fifth pregnancy.
> Am I still looking at an inherited
> trait in her heifer calf, or did I
> cause this by over conditioning
> and not having enough exercise
> area for the cow to keep in
> calving shape?

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When we had a cow that didn'e want to nures daddy would give her a nose ring, that way he could lead her in the barn pull her head up & tie it off 'till the calf was done eatin. Every time we had to do that we had no trouble with the cow. A few of them even started to feed on their own.

> Okay.... day five... I might as
> well be nursing the calf myself as
> to fight that 1200 pound cow to
> TRY to get her to stand still and
> let the calf suck. She kicks like
> a son of a gun and three days in
> hobbles didn't change her mind
> much. We took the hobbles off, and
> back to knocking the daylight out
> of the calf she went. If she isn't
> kicking the stuffing out of the
> little bugger, she is head butting
> it across the pen or the
> pasture.... I don't know how bad
> the calf is hurt, but I don't
> trust her mom with her, so I take
> the calf away. Mom comes to find
> the baby and then won't let her
> suck. I stand there and hold the
> mother and she may or may not
> stand still. The calf sucks at the
> teat for twenty to thirty minutes
> and still acts hungry. Tonight,
> the cow bawled the whole time the
> calf was nursing and the calf
> REALLY acted hungry afterwards, so
> I broke down and fed it a bottle.
> It ate the whole two quarts. I was
> in a cow camp one time and saw
> cows hobbled and almost in
> straight jackets while the guys
> tried to make them mother up. I
> don't know how successful they
> were. In the morning at six am, I
> will try again, but I just don't
> know what to think. Do I have a
> bottle baby here? If I leave the
> calf out in the field with the
> mother, the calf will follow her,
> but the cow never touches the
> calf. The calf is spunky enough,
> but I just don't know what to make
> of all of this. How many more days
> should I keep trying?

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That looks like a one way ticket to my cow losing her nose.. I think she is that determined to NOT ruin her girly figure.... aren't personalities something????

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Some of what my cattle have gone through is because of my own mismanagement. I have so few head, I can afford to try one more time. At least, that is what I think... If I went by the birth problems on my three new heifers, none of them would be here...and neither would their mothers, and the only thing I would have on the place is one steer. I can try to do better next year, be more picky.... just not this year.

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