question from a newbie

[mybubba]

I am only new to dealing with cattle and 2 weeks ago one of the mummas had a bull calf. mumma was doing her best but she has bottle teats and also had no milk so we were forced to remove the calf ( which took us 2 days cause mumma wouldnt let us close). the calf is a brahman cross and he refuses to suck a bottle or drink from a pail. he shows no interest at all in his feeds and is still wobbly on his feet. we ended up cutting a small piece out of the end of the bottle teat so the milk would dribble in his mouth. this proved successful and he still wont suck but he does swallow the milk. the problem is we have to hold him under his chin and your hand gets covered in milk. now the hair has all fallen out where we hold him. the skin is not raw but pink and not dry or scaly and he his no scourers but has had a slight discharge from his nose (which seems to be clearing up). is the hair loss normal and would it only be from us having our hand there?

 

[regolith]

The hair loss is caused by the milk. The same might happen if you were bucket feeding and he was dipping his nose in, sometimes they lose a bit of hair round the muzzle.
He's two weeks old and still not drinking well?

 

[mybubba]

no still not drinking well every feed is a real struggle with him. he is passing plenty of urine and its clear and his poos are solid not runny. we have today moved him into a small yard with my 5mth old heifer to see if he is just unhappy because he was on his own. he imediately tried to suckle from her and we allowed him to pester her for a little bit then stuck his head in a bucket and got him to actually drink some milk. so after that small success we are going to try it again later today. he still isnt walking well either and unsteady on his feet so hopefully having another cow to follow will also help with this. its a relief to know that the hair loss is just from the milk and i bet that it is also causing his nose to peel too since he gets it covered in milk too. thanks for the help regolith

 

[mybubba]

sadly we lost this little fella today

 

[B&M Farms]

Sorry to hear that you lost him. It happens that way sometimes. If they don't get their mother's first milk they have a hard time making it. Without the clostrum their immune system is too weak.

 

[HomePlaceAngus]

SORRY about the lost calf. B&M is right. They have to get that clostrum either from the mother or otherwise. Calk it up as experence and move forward. Need to replace that mama cow. Good luck !!!!!