Fire Sweep Ranch
Well-known member
We have an angus heifer, sired by Pioneer, that we bought as a pair two years ago out of an OK dispersal sale. The dam was a TC Freedom cow, and a frame 6, so VERY BIG compared to most of our other cattle. We shipped the dam after weaning the calf, and got what we paid for her. The heifer calf was shown a few times, fed well, and never got very big (she is lucky if she is a 5 frame). We are OK with that! She did not lose her hair this summer (as a bred heifer), so I shaved her because we was always laying in the wet spots and panting (suspect fescue is the problem). We was AI'd to the calving ease sire Beef Maker, a purebred simmental. She has since grown back at least two inches of hair (in just a few months, and it is still hot out here), and still hangs out in the wet cool spots (usually where water is standing around the water trough). She calved last night, a whopping 49 pound heifer calf (weighed AFTER we fed her), at 283 days gestation (no bull exposure). She calved right before 11 (we watched it, the dam actually got up when the heifer was not all the way out, and ran 50 feet to the corner, where the calf fell out and hit the ground). We made sure the calf was breathing, and watched for 30 minutes to see her stand and suck. Dam licked the calf, and seemed to attach to her. We decide to get some sleep and check the heifer at 1AM to see if she stood and sucked. Went out, calf was still in the same spot, same position, still had her soft pads on her feet (so had not stood). I went in and helped her up, but the dam would not get near us when I was near the calf (to get her to suck), so we moved both to the barn under lights in a smaller pen. We tied the heifer to the panel, and I got the calf up to the udder, she will not suck. I tried squirting colostrum on her nose, and to my surprise dam has a thick, dark blood colored fluid instead of milk. I tried all 4 quarters, and all were the same. Not sure what to do, I decided to defrost my frozen colostrum (calf is now 3 hours old and no food in her belly yet) and tube the calf so we can get to bed. I gave the calf a tube of Nuresmate ASAP, tubed her, and stripped the heifer dry (which she still has a rather hard udder, but I can not get anything out but the dark blood colored thick stuff, about 8 ounces worth). The calf was up this morning, on the other side of the fence. But no signs of sucking on dam. I called the vet office at 7:45 (they open at 8, thankfully someone answered!). Talked with vet, he said dam will probably never have milk, maybe had mastitis as a heifer. He told me if we wanted this to work, to keep stripping the heifer for 48 hours to see if she comes into her milk, but we likely have a bottle baby. We have NEVER had a bottle baby! We tried to give the calf a half bottle of colostrum this morning, and she would not suck. We ended up tubing her. Vet said to give her lots of little meals, because she is so small her tummy can not handle a full bottle, and she needs to be fed often.
So, why wont the calf suck? She stands and walks around, but acts like she is not hungry (maybe she is not?). What is the likely hood this first calf heifer will have milk? My thinking is because of her small size and hair, she is a fescue cow and thus she did not feed the baby enough in utero and that is why the calf is so small. But I don't know! We have cows that we suspect are borderline fescue cows, but they have normal calves and can raise them! They just do not shed out all the way in the winter, or are always in the shade.
So what can we do differently? How can we get this calf to suck more aggressively? She will lightly suck on your fingers, but when we put the nipple in her mouth she just rolls it around and spits it out.
Any helpful advice would be appreciated! You don't need to tell me to ship the heifer, because we are pretty sure that will be the end result. My concern is the calf, and how long do we keep trying on the heifer.
So, why wont the calf suck? She stands and walks around, but acts like she is not hungry (maybe she is not?). What is the likely hood this first calf heifer will have milk? My thinking is because of her small size and hair, she is a fescue cow and thus she did not feed the baby enough in utero and that is why the calf is so small. But I don't know! We have cows that we suspect are borderline fescue cows, but they have normal calves and can raise them! They just do not shed out all the way in the winter, or are always in the shade.
So what can we do differently? How can we get this calf to suck more aggressively? She will lightly suck on your fingers, but when we put the nipple in her mouth she just rolls it around and spits it out.
Any helpful advice would be appreciated! You don't need to tell me to ship the heifer, because we are pretty sure that will be the end result. My concern is the calf, and how long do we keep trying on the heifer.
