Had a cow get struck by lightening over the weekend. Her heifer calf was born mid-January. I got the calf up into a pen today, gave it a lil grain and hay and had water available. The calf is a little over 4 months old, anything else I need to give to the calf, or have available to the calf? Want to give the calf the best possible opportunity to turn grow and develop.
Orphaned calf
- Thread starter Ryan
- Start date
Help Support CattleToday:
If you have it available, you might sprinkle a little milk replacer over the grain (if the grain happens to be some sort that has molasses mixed in, wait until she figures the grain out, then sprinkle a little bit over it - the replacer will stick to the molasses and she will probably eat it) and see if she'll eat it - it would give her added vitamins, fat, and protein. Just a thought.
I figured I would keep her up real close and give her some special attention for a month or so. Give her time to get over the trauma of losing mom and being weaned a lil early, then stick her with the heifers that arent in a breeding pen. I've got to go by the feed store in town tomorrow so I'll pick up some Milk Replacer then. She knows what grain is, they've had a little out in the creep feeders off and on for a lil while. I'm sure she'll be fine, just don't want her to fall too far behind.
Ryan, if you're picking up milk replacer to make the calf a bottle, you might save yourself some aggrivation. A calf that's been nursing its mother for that long is not gonna be real receptive to a bottle. And milk replacer has gone sky high.
Like Beefy said, at 4 months the calf is fine without milk.
Just my 2 cents here.
Alice
Like Beefy said, at 4 months the calf is fine without milk.
Just my 2 cents here.
Alice
mdmdogs3
Well-known member
in a case like this would something like powdered milk (human) work? would be much cheaper than milk replacer and would still have some milk properties :?: :?: :?: :?:
People always harp on feeding with a bottle instead of a bucket so that the milk gets in the right stomach to be digested. So what's the point of sprinkling milk replacer on grain, it sure isn;t going to seperate and go to the right place and form a curd like it should. A good palatable grain is all the claf needs besides the obvious, hay, water, etc.
dun
dun
msscamp":322uzqe8 said:
She's been eating pretty good... more grain than I expected, so I'll probably pass on the milk replacer.
However, independent of this situation, in general, would milk replacer sprinkled on, or top dressed, on grain be beneficial at all? or be beneficial enough to make a difference?
Ryan":ll3hhb5z said:
I passed on the suggestion because I know people who do that once a calf has reached a certain age (I'm not sure what that age is, quite honestly) - as opposed to bottle feeding - and they swear by it. Although I have never done it, I can see where it could be beneficial, and just might work. The vitamins, fat, and protein are in the powder and they certainly don't need to be mixed with water to activate them, now do they? I very firmly believe that a very young calf should be nursing - for a variety of reasons (call me stubborn), but whether that is true for a 4 month old calf or not is something else entirely, because a 4 month old calf's rumen has developed, they are chewing their cud, and they can be weaned with very few ill-effects if the circumstances warrant it - that is not true for a month, or even a 2 month old calf. Just a little something to think about.
Ryan":ug61al38 said:
My aunt used to sprinkle milk replacer on the calf feed to tempt the calf to begin nuzzling around in the feed...maybe tempt the calf to take a bite. I tried it for awhile, but all I got was flies, flies, and more flies settling on the feed bucket. Maybe if it was winter I'd have had more luck with it...but I decided it wasn't worth the flies.
Now my brother used to mix up milk replacer and pour it on feed making a kind of gruel out of it. That was for the calves that he'd bought that needed extra weight and nutrition...older calves he'd bought from the sale barn that had been dang near starved by the time they'd gone to the sale. As hungry as they were, they slurpped that stuff down quick!
Alice
I'm going to put these two pairs in with the orphaned heifer. They've got more grass than they could think about eating and I have a set up where i can feed the calves in a spot the mom's can't get to. I figured she'd do better with a couple of buddies.
The orphaned heifer is the big brown lineback, with the red halter on.
Thanks to everyone for the tips.
Ryan
The orphaned heifer is the big brown lineback, with the red halter on.
Thanks to everyone for the tips.
Ryan
TheBullLady
Well-known member
lol.. she looks like she's thinking about "stealing" from that other cow in the picture Ryan! Which is what I've had happen with orphans. In fact I had to ship one about a month ago because she was getting so aggressive she was cheating younger calves of their share!
She'll be fine with grain Ryan... I bet she'll start picking up weight in another 30 days or so.
She'll be fine with grain Ryan... I bet she'll start picking up weight in another 30 days or so.
skyline
Well-known member
Ryan, that's some good looking pens you got. They look a lot like my pens, except they are standing up, made out of steel, and not rotten. :roll:
skyline":9wool7cz said:
:lol: :lol:
Thanks for the compliment. I have definantly been blessed to be able to work at ranch with as nice of facilities as we have. As much as we use them and rely on them, our pipe pens are great to have.
