Nurse cow or not. Thoughts

Help Support CattleToday:

Boy I wish this cow was bred. I truly believe that's why she's being so naughty. Sheesh.
She got the hobbles last night and that appears to be a game changer for her so far. She can still kick a little as I left them quite loose/longer length so she can freely move but it keeps her from kicking out hard and high. I think it also wore her out a bit. Today she did a bit better with the calves. They were able to duck and dive avoiding the blows or just being shoved while still getting the hints she was sending. Eventually they latched on while she was eating and she gave up for a bit. Long enough for them to eat what they needed although maybe a tad too much. They showed up with scours this morning so I'm treating that now. What's interesting is so is the other younger calf we have right now who is in a completely different area and different cow. The older calves are just fine. We've had some pretty dramatic temperature swings and I suspect that's the cause on the youngins. All in all we seem to have made progress. We'll see how she does over the next 24 hours and hopefully remove them. I'm just trying to keep the calves from receiving all out blows until the light bulb comes on in her head.
The wonderful thing about hobbles, is hobbles are wonderful things!!

A week or so of that and she will forget she ever knew how to kick! Next year if I still have Dapples she is gonna get hobbled for a few days. She definitely is NOT Bessie!!

Screenshot_20240714-222621_Gallery.jpg
 
My nurse cow Always has a Favorite calf, (the calf doesn't have to be her's) she will nurse 3, but she doesn't lick the third calf and sometimes she will only lick the one that's her favorite. This spring she kicked the one she didn't like just right and that poor guy couldn't stand without help for a few days, so I pulled him and bottle fed him until he was better, when I put him back on her, I stood beside her while he got latched on and Everytime she raised her foot I smacked her ankle with a Plastic pipe and after that she left him alone. I was putting a new batch of calves on her every 2 months, she raised 12 calves for me in 8 months.
 
Well a surprising turn of events this afternoon. Same drama at the early am feeding. Actually worse as she was trying to smash them with her head since kicking wasn't being effective enough and they were chasing her around for milk and not giving up. After feeding I treated all the calves for scours. One is stopped up already. One is mostly stopped up (the young calf on his own mom) the other graft calf is still struggling. He's wobbly again but that may be because he's getting dehydrated so I've been tubing him with the great electrolytes that were recommended on this forum last year that have been an absolute game changer. That tube feeder also recommended on this forum has been incredible. It's amazing how nice equipment can make things so much easier. Next feeding I head out the door expecting an all out fiasco once again and stop dead in my tracks. Wait just a darn minute! There's the cow with the smaller healthier calf just nursing away and she's just standing there chewing her cud contently. What in the world happened from one feeding to the next?!? So I head out, enjoyed the hands off feeding for a bit then treat all 3 calves for scours. The 2nd graft calf gets up, heads over to the cow and I'm just sure she's going to have a fit and nope. She seems to not allow sick calves to nurse when we're doing this so I expected her to tell him no. Especially after what we've been dealing with for over a week now. He just latches on and nurses away. What in the world!? The first calf is about to explode from all the milk. I have no idea how long he'd been standing there nursing. So I expect to be dealing with him scouring back up again. Thankfully I've continued to treat him till I was sure he was over it. I don't want to take him away when we are clearly on the right path. Just wanted to share this update.
 
Both calves are doing well now except for over eating a bit still. We've mostly got their scours under control. The cow isn't quite there yet but she's doing better by the day and the stronger the calves get them more they run her down. Once they latch on she stops, lets down and chews her cud. She's just being stubborn because she's still open. They have pretty well figured out how to duck and dive and get what they want. I'll be keeping them in the corral for a bit longer until I feel like she's taken them completely and they are strong enough to chase her down in a smaller pasture for a bit. All in all it's going well although it's been a challenge. We're going back up in heat yet again. Hopefully she can still conceive and keep it this time. Really not enjoying her personality when she's open.
 
Guess it's time for an update. Somehow we all came through this in one piece. HaHa!
Both calves are doing pretty well. The calf that originally was the larger calf is now the smaller. He still is a bit wobbly when he's first up and moving.That still stumps me. Last night both calves were running around for a bit head butting and playing. Had to just sit and watch. Was nice to see. Especially after all this time. I think we are finally there for the most part. Having said that next week is when she's supposed to come back into heat if she's not bred so we're buckled up for another round of aggression. Hopefully she's finally bred and this last heat didn't change that. It was "cooler" longer this round post breeding so maybe this time it stuck. The cow still kicks a small amount when the calves first try and nurse but as soon as one gets latched on she stands perfect chewing her cud as if they were her own. Her kicks aren't very aggressive now so hobbles are off now. Both calves are eating well and putting on weight. We had yet another round of record breaking heat for this time of year and in true fashion this cow turned the shade area into a sloppy mess and continued to lay her udder in it. If she can find a pile to lay her udder in she will. No matter how much straw and cleaning is done. She came down with mastitis in a back quarter. Caught it quick and started treatment. It's clear now and we are back in milk for the calves and the house. So all in all a good update and hopefully we can get them out on pasture in another week or so during the day.
 
Final update most likely on this round of lactation.
1 calf is now weaned. He was getting way to aggressive with our cow and pushing off the other calf at feedings. He's out on pasture and growing up to the weight our cross bred buyer wants now. The other calf is still on her and growing like a weed. He's a much better temperament calf. More beef like than dairy which is nice. She's going to be dried up in not to much longer. She's still confirmed pregnant so we're are happy with how it's all going right now. I debated another set of calves when I weaned the first of these two calves but decided not to take on that battle because she really likes these calves as her own (as if the above battles never occurred :rolleyes:) and I didn't want to start fresh in the mud/winter for another couple months of lactation.
 

Latest posts

Top