Nurse Cow's

[Stepper]

If you have one cow to lose its calf while giving birth and another get's say hip locked while giving birth and finally gets to where she can not get up any more. What are the chance's of getting the healthy cow to adopt the sick one's calf ?

I herd of nurse cow's but dont know anything about them. It is not possible to keep a nurse cow arround just for the purpose of raising orphaned calve's is it ? I mean they have to had of had a calve their self recently for their milk to come in dont they ? You just can not take a calf and put it on a nurse cow and it eventually start lactating in a few day's can it ?

 

[msscamp]

If you have one cow to lose its calf while giving birth and another get's say hip locked while giving birth and finally gets to where she can not get up any more. What are the chance's of getting the healthy cow to adopt the sick one's calf ?

The ease of grafting another cow's calf onto a nurse cow depends entirely on the nurse cow - some will take them, no problem and can be turned out in the pasture; and some have to be put in the chute in order for the calf to nurse.

It is not possible to keep a nurse cow arround just for the purpose of raising orphaned calve's is it ? I mean they have to had of had a calve their self recently for their milk to come in dont they ? You just can not take a calf and put it on a nurse cow and it eventually start lactating in a few day's can it ?

You're right, a cow has to have calved before she will have milk.

 

[milkmaid]

It is not possible to keep a nurse cow arround just for the purpose of raising orphaned calve's is it ? I mean they have to had of had a calve their self recently for their milk to come in dont they ? You just can not take a calf and put it on a nurse cow and it eventually start lactating in a few day's can it ?

You're right, a cow has to have calved before she will have milk.

True msscamp, but the cow doesn't have to have just calved - one of my nurse cows raised 12 calves last year in three sets of four calves each time. And I guarantee she didn't freshen each time I put a new set on. :lol: ;-)

(Although I do see what you're getting at. Stepper, the cow has to calve before she'll begin producing milk, but after that, so long as she has a calf on or you're milking her every day she'll keep producing milk and you can put a new calf on at some future point and she'll have milk for it. Make sense?)

 

[msscamp]

It is not possible to keep a nurse cow arround just for the purpose of raising orphaned calve's is it ? I mean they have to had of had a calve their self recently for their milk to come in dont they ? You just can not take a calf and put it on a nurse cow and it eventually start lactating in a few day's can it ?

You're right, a cow has to have calved before she will have milk.

True msscamp, but the cow doesn't have to have just calved - one of my nurse cows raised 12 calves last year in three sets of four calves each time. And I guarantee she didn't freshen each time I put a new set on. :lol: ;-)

There I go assuming again. :lol: :lol:

 

[Beefy]

but she wont milk forever either. she will still need to have a calf of her own each year. right?


i started to buy a little jersey cow at the sale the other day. she was so gentle the guy in the ring went over and milked her before he sent her thru. of course if i had a nurse cow i wouldnt need one, i only need one when i dont have one. kind of like a bag of milk replacer. next year, i'm going to buy a bag of milk replacer at the beginning of calving and maybe i wont have to use it at all.

and it seems that if a cow loses a calf she dries up (officially) about 2 days before i need her to put a calf on. why do i do this again?

 

[Stepper]

milkmaid,

Ok this is what i am wondering. My neighbor had a first time heifer to have a calf (vet had to pull it) She had now got to the point that she can not hardly get up because of pinched nerve during calving. ( vet says eventually she wont ever get up again.) She has a good looking little bull calve.

Well about a week ago he had another first time heifer to try and have a calve. But the vet wound up having to cut the calve into 3 peaces to get it out. So it does not have a calve now. She is a real gentle heifer. Easy to handle but her milk has since dryed up.

What i was wondering is. Would it be possiable to take the calve from the crippled heifer and put it on the healthy heifer even though her milk has dry up if she would accept it ? The neighbor is going to take the crippled heifer to the sale barn and try to raise the calve on a bottle.

I was wondering how this would work just in case this happens to me some day.

 

[msscamp]

I'm not milkmaid, but if the heifer who lost her calf has, in fact, dried up you're SOL, she will not produce milk until she calves again, I don't care how many calves you put on her. That is just the way nature works.

PS If I'm reading your post right, and this heifer is down, the only thing he can do is shoot her. Downer cows are excluded from the food chain (and have been for several years, now).

 

[milkmaid]

but she wont milk forever either. she will still need to have a calf of her own each year. right?

Beef breeds sort of dry themselves off on their own by about 6 months or so in milk - milk production diminishes until there's not enough to mention. Dairy breeds can go two years between calves without too much trouble. One of my cows calved in August of '04, and then her next calf came in February of '06. She wasn't milking too well by the time I dried her off in Dec, though. lol. I have another that was milking well enough 18 months in milk (since her last calf) that I could still put two calves on her. She's easily 24 months now, perhaps a hair over, since her last calf, and she's not due to calve again until July. Ideally you do like them to calve closer to 12 month intervals though.

i started to buy a little jersey cow at the sale the other day. she was so gentle the guy in the ring went over and milked her before he sent her thru. of course if i had a nurse cow i wouldnt need one, i only need one when i dont have one. kind of like a bag of milk replacer. next year, i'm going to buy a bag of milk replacer at the beginning of calving and maybe i wont have to use it at all.

:lol: That was the approach I took two weeks ago. Ordered in $150 in drugs prior to picking up that trailerload of bottle calves, in the hopes that I wouldn't have to doctor any of them. So far so good *fingers crossed*

 

[milkmaid]

What i was wondering is. Would it be possiable to take the calve from the crippled heifer and put it on the healthy heifer even though her milk has dry up if she would accept it ? The neighbor is going to take the crippled heifer to the sale barn and try to raise the calve on a bottle.

I was wondering how this would work just in case this happens to me some day.

Ditto to what msscamp said...if the heifer has really dried up, then you're out of luck. But, if it's only been a week since the one heifer calved, she may be on her way to drying up, but she probably isn't completely - yet. Usually you can start up fresh cows without too much trouble. Every now and again we have a cow over here that goes down with milk fever or uterine infection or is partially paralyzed and doesn't get milked for awhile. Not much milk in there a week after calving, but with regular milking they'll get going again.

If it were me I'd certainly give it a try, and plan on supplementing the calf just a little bit for a week, and after that, if it's all going to work out, you shouldn't have to supplement the calf any longer.

 

[Stepper]

msscamp,

The heifer that is crippled can still at this point stand up long enough to let the calve nurse but can not walk 20 feet. And sometimes will fall down.

So you mean when you say downer cow's are excluded from the food chain that they can not be sold through a sale barn ?

I tell you it makes me sick everytime i see the old cow in the condition that she is in. She was not no where near as bad of shape as she is in when she first had the calve a couple of weeks ago. This guy has not given them anything to eat except for range cube's. And he has had them for a couple of months now. And has not fed them any hay. He fastened 11 heifer's up on about a 1 acre lot. So he could keep a eye on them while they calved.

I talked with my vet today and was telling him about the crippled cow and he said that the heifer might have recovered if she had been started on steriod's and fed adquately when this first happened.

But the old cow has gone so long now tring to nurse her calve with nothing to eat. She has pulled down to skin and bones. It is pittiful.

 

[msscamp]

msscamp,

The heifer that is crippled can still at this point stand up long enough to let the calve nurse but can not walk 20 feet. And sometimes will fall down.

So you mean when you say downer cow's are excluded from the food chain that they can not be sold through a sale barn ?

Standing for a calf to nurse and walking the distances required at a salebarn are two completely different things. If she can't walk for 20 feet how is she going to make it through a salebarn ring, or even into a trailer? If you have any influence whatsoever with this idiot, please try to convince him that this heifer is better off being shot if he's determined to sell her. If a cow cannot walk into the killing pen on her own accord, she is considered a downer cow and is excluded from the food chain. I cannot even begin to imagine a reputable cattleman or woman putting this heifer through this torment. To take her to a salebarn is going to subject her to hotshotting, beatings, and God only knows what else.

I tell you it makes me sick everytime i see the old cow in the condition that she is in. She was not no where near as bad of shape as she is in when she first had the calve a couple of weeks ago. This guy has not given them anything to eat except for range cube's. And he has had them for a couple of months now. And has not fed them any hay. He fastened 11 heifer's up on about a 1 acre lot. So he could keep a eye on them while they calved.

A heifer is NOT an 'old cow'. A heifer is a 2-3 year old, depending on what part of the country you're from - far from being old. Please, I ask you to spare me the details of how he takes care of his cattle as it just makes me mad and there is nothing I can do about it.

I talked with my vet today and was telling him about the crippled cow and he said that the heifer might have recovered if she had been started on steriod's and fed adquately when this first happened.

Yet another example of ignorance at work and another argument for requiring people to pass a basic knowledge test before being allowed to own cattle.

But the old cow has gone so long now tring to nurse her calve with nothing to eat. She has pulled down to skin and bones. It is pittiful.

Yes, that generally happens when cattle are expected to raise babies without adequate nutrition. :x

 

[Stepper]

msscamp,

Old cow is just an expression. I know a heifer is just 2 or 3 years old. And beleave me i wish i did have some influence over this guy. But i have done everything in my power to get him to do something. He finally did go out and buy them about 4 bails of hay and ask me to unload them for him.

I can see now why people who know's what they are doing raising cattle feel the way they do about someone who has no idea as to what is going on tring to raise cattle. And i agree there should be a law that anyone wanting to raise cattle should have to pass some sort of test before being allowed to own any cattle. And in my opinion it should be a hard test along with some sort of proven apprentiship. Or so many months of docoumented work on a cattle operation.

 

[msscamp]

Stepper, I know you are a bystander, too. This type of situation has the capability of really setting me off, but I did not mean to direct it at you. If it seemed like I directed it at you in any way, I'm sorry.

 

[Beefy]

i dont want to take anymore tests.

 

[msscamp]

msscamp,

I can see now why people who know's what they are doing raising cattle feel the way they do about someone who has no idea as to what is going on tring to raise cattle.

I don't agree with this statement.....there is a world of difference between someone who is trying to learn and do right by his cattle and someone who is just to dumb, blind, or lazy to learn and do what is required. Although appearances may indicate differently at times, I think very few people have a problem with the former, it's just the latter that tends to piss them off. Just my thoughts.

 

[mdmdogs3]

... i wish i did have some influence over this guy. But i have done everything in my power to get him to do something...

don't forget there is always one more step that can be taken - report him to the authorities -
sometimes all it takes for someone to pull their head out of their hindend is to have someone with a badge pay a visit - and these calls can always be made anonymously
if the badge visit doesn't solve the problem - then at least you've notified someone that has the authority to do something.

just my opinion - can't stand PETA but also can't stand stupid people torturing any living thing and not feeding them is torture.

 

[Stepper]

msscamp,

I did not take it that way at all. I apprechaite your concern and you dont have nothing at all to be sorry about. People like that sets me off to.

mdmdogs3

Although he probably should be reported to the authorities. I am not going to do that at this time. I think that the exspense of losing this heifer and the vet bills he has aquired hopfully will make him see the light. He thinks he is going to make allot of money off of these 11 heifer's. But when his balloon note rolls arround i beleave he will learn different.

 

[msscamp]

msscamp,

I did not take it that way at all. I apprechaite your concern and you dont have nothing at all to be sorry about. People like that sets me off to.

I'm glad I didn't offend, and thanks!