Nursing 2 calves

chiefgriz · Aug 25, 2005

I have a holstein that just calved. I purchased an additional heifer calf to raise on the same cow. Is there a method that makes the mother accept the new calf any easier. I heard that putting talc powder on both calves would hide the scentr of both, confusing the cow. Any thoughts?

msscamp · Aug 25, 2005

chiefgriz":23gj5qiq said:
I have a holstein that just calved. I purchased an additional heifer calf to raise on the same cow. Is there a method that makes the mother accept the new calf any easier. I heard that putting talc powder on both calves would hide the scentr of both, confusing the cow. Any thoughts?

As far as the talc is concerned, I seriously doubt it. Cows are not stupid, she knows her calf. Think about it for a minute. Whether you have 5 or 500 each cow can pick out her calf rain, shine, mud, snow, whatever. The only thing I could suggest would be to put the mother in the chute, open both sides, put both calves on her. After a while (like several weeks, maybe), she MIGHT accept the 2nd calf in a controlled setting. The chances of being able to turn her and both calves out with the rest of the herd and have her take care of both calves are slim to none. Don't mean to rain on your parade, but you have probably got a tough row to hoe with this one. We had foster cows when I was growing up, the cows would come in twice a day for nursing, they would accept the calves under those circumstances, but we could not turn the babies out because there was no way to insure the foster mom's would accept the calves in the pasture or that each calf would get his/her share under those circumstances.

tryinhard · Aug 26, 2005

Not much exp. only once. put moma in head gate got both sucking, after 3or 4 days, could put them in the catch pen together, n just feed moma n both would suck, while she was eating, later on she could smell her milk, or whatever, in the other calf's stool, I guess and accepted it. less than 10 days. Good luck.

milkmaid · Aug 26, 2005

Well...I've got a nurse cow here with not two, but FOUR calves on her. They stay with her out on pasture 24/7. No problems - she's accepted all of them. Mothers them, licks 'em, etc.

However - this is the third set of calves I've had on her; first set she tried quite persistantly to kill until they were weaned about 13 weeks of age. Second set she still disliked for the first 6 weeks (although I could turn all of them out together after a week), second six weeks went smoothly. This third set she's been very good about the entire time and they're four months old now.

I didn't do anything special for any of the calves - just tied her up, brought the calves out, and said "deal with it". :lol: ;-)

milkmaid · Aug 26, 2005

Oh - and some cows accept calves better than others. I had a nurse cow last year that would take any calf, any time, any age...very strong maternal instincts. Even after she calved and I brought in three more calves, she 'loved' all of them like they were her own. I don't think it even occured to her that one was hers and three were not.

The cow I have now is rather indifferent to the calves at first. It took her about a week to accept them (ie - let them nurse without me standing around) and a little longer before she really started to mother them.

I *may* have a new nurse cow coming in later next week for the twins in my avatar. No idea how she's going to be. She'll be a cull cow from the neighboring dairy - with no "experience" raising calves. Might be interesting.

bward · Aug 27, 2005

Milkmaid, you sure have a natural instinct for raising animals. I sure do enjoy reading your posts. Sounds like you enjoy every minute and put your heart and soul into practical animal husbandry. Keep posting and start a journal.... you could likely write a book about your endeavors.

chiefgriz · Aug 27, 2005

First feeding had to trap mother and put calves on her. Evening feeding just let both calves on her. Luckily, the foster calf is a very aggressive nurser so she gets in and gets done. Mama has licked foster calf down 1 time but still pushes foster calf away occasionally. I sure dont want to take any chances with the cost of the holstein heifer that I bought. I guess I will need to keep turning her in morning and evening until mama consistenly affecionate to foster calf. Thanks for the input

Beefy · Aug 28, 2005

piece of cake.

Rod · Aug 28, 2005

Your feed store should have a product that you wipe on your calf. It causes the moma cow to lick the calf off which in turn will help her accept it. Worked well for me, I'm just not sure of the name of it.

ND · Aug 28, 2005

o no mo is a product that you rub on the calves -- works awesome

JHH · Aug 28, 2005

We had a heifer lose a calf and we also lost a heifer having a calf so we put the two together and used pine tar on the cows nose.claimed calf very quikly,dont know anything maybe just very lucky.JHH

Anonymous · Aug 28, 2005

I have a cow raising twins in the barn now. she would not let the bull calf nurse but would let the heifer. I put her in the chute a few times to let him nurse but she still would not let him nurse otherwise. A friend told me to hobble her so that she could not kick him. I did so and it has worked like a charm. She has been hobbled since Friday afternoon and as of saturday morning he has been able to nurse without help from me. Friend said to leave hobbles on 4 or 5 more days then everything should be fine.

Radi Cilo · Aug 28, 2005

I agree, Bward.

chiefgriz · Aug 28, 2005

So far the nurse cow has not tried to kick the foster calf. Mostly just tries to nudge or push her away occasionally. I talked to a retired dairy owner yesterday and he said something they did seemed to always work was to rub the placenta all over the foster calf. This might work but is not practical. I have a life and cant sit there waiting for a calf to be born in order to snatch up the afterbirth, plus have the foster calf on standby. I f it worked out to where things fell into place, I would try that. Thanks

Brandonm2 · Aug 28, 2005

I don't know it it will help or not; but my grandfather always kept the natural calf and the foster calf AWAY from the cow in a small, solid pen where the cow could hear the calves but not nurse them through the walls. He kept the two sleeping together then he would turn them loose with the cow. If she kicked off the foster calf, into the headgate she went and he kept that up two or three times a day until she took both calves.