Question/Cow letting another calf nurse

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insurman

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I have not seen it happen buy my MNL has see one of our Simbrah's that is due (2nd calf) in mid/late May and she is letting a calf nurse on her. Have 4 new ones on the ground and I am not sure if it is the same calf or just one. All of the momma cows that had these are experienced cows and have plenty of milk. Bought this cow last year and she was bred. Confirmed prego with blood test about 3 months ago. I did see the cow on Tuesday and she looks health, filling out but her bag is nothing yet.

Is she just super maternal? Has she lost the calf and compensating? Is she further along than we thought? Should we separate her from the herd?

Have never had this happen. Thoughts??
 
If she hasn;t calved you need to get her away from the little suckers. Could lead to her calf not being as healthy as it should becuase of lack of colostrum
 
Getting her penned up in the morning and moving her to a different pasture this weekend.

So do you think this could be a one time thing or an ongoing issue going forward?
 
insurman":4yzh2ocx said:
Getting her penned up in the morning and moving her to a different pasture this weekend.

So do you think this could be a one time thing or an ongoing issue going forward?
Hard to tell. I've had cows in the past that sometimes would let others nurse and other years they wouldn;t. The only one we had that always let any calf nurse was Granny
 
I have 6 heifers that I calved out this year and its like an open buffet. I never had a cow let another calf nurse and this year there is always someone getting a free meal. The older cows dont go for it but these heifers for some reason could care less.
 
We had a heifer that was bred and in her last trimester and let one of the calves nurse on her. We did not notice it until we took her to an overnight show and she bagged up the next day. We separated her and the calf from then on, but when she calved herself her teats ballooned out for the first few days, and the breeder told us it was because she was sucked on hard enough to get her to start producing, which could have caused her teats to stretch out.
Glad you got her separated.
 
Having a beef nurse cow in the herd is a good thing IMO.
Got to pay attention to make sure her calf get's the start that is needed.
A little extra work with her but worth every penny if you get an orphan.
 
Got same problem. Calf sucking on first calf heifer and she due 18th. I will just give calf colostrum replacer as with this weather we have here in NE Iowa I can't send pairs to pasture and only got one yard to lock cows up in. Deal with what I got and hope it works out.

Alot of our cows when locked up for first month or so it's a combined effort to raise calves but once on pasture they pair up again and mostly stay with their own. Good or bad I don't know maybe you can't pinpoint a poor milking cow right away but you can watch them and see if it's always the same robber. Biggest fear I have is them not so perfect udders the calf gets used to the easy ones and gets lazy and could ruin a 1/4 on a cow.....
 
I have a bunch of cows that aren't udderly protective, especially at feeding time when they're all around the manger... some of the calves get good at it too and are really sneaky or persistent. I wouldn't let a calf suck on a cow who hasn't had her own yet, and even after that, only if she's got more milk than her calf can handle... and I keep it in mind when I select replacement heifers... was she a thief and is that the reason she looks good.
 
Thanks for all the advice, got her moved to the house (with about 5 acres) and put her with a couple of our 13 month old heifers I am about to get bred. She has adjusted and will just leave her there until she calves.
 
I would not be sure that after she calves it will stop, About every time i have ever had this problem the cow will still let otheres suck even after she has her own calf.
 
We have an older Angus cow that has her own calf nursing and 2 other motherless calves (both died) also. She couldn't care less. All 3 look great and are growing like they should so I'm leaving them alone. If it started pulling her down I would make other arrangements.
 

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