I have a week-old calf that only spent the first day with its mother. The calf disappeared through the fence into the adjoining woods when it was less than a day old. I let the mother out to search the woods but she showed up back at the gate the next day to go back in with the herd so I let her in, thinking the calf had died.
I rode my horse through the woods several times, and hands had passed through several times also, with no sign of the calf.
Today, a full week since it disappeared, the calf was spotted and I caught it and took it to its mother. He seemed to recognize the mother but she would have nothing to do with the calf.
I returned in an hour and the mother was grazing and had walked far away from the calf, so I brought the calf back and put in in a stall with a pan of water with some Similac mixed with it. I tried pouring bottled water in its mouth and got no reaction at all. I couldn't find a calf nursing bottle and it was late so I will get one in the morning if it's still alive.
I've tried to save calves with bottle feeders twice before and neither of them made it. I was using powdered milk replacer mix.
What should I do to save this calf?
gabby
I rode my horse through the woods several times, and hands had passed through several times also, with no sign of the calf.
Today, a full week since it disappeared, the calf was spotted and I caught it and took it to its mother. He seemed to recognize the mother but she would have nothing to do with the calf.
I returned in an hour and the mother was grazing and had walked far away from the calf, so I brought the calf back and put in in a stall with a pan of water with some Similac mixed with it. I tried pouring bottled water in its mouth and got no reaction at all. I couldn't find a calf nursing bottle and it was late so I will get one in the morning if it's still alive.
I've tried to save calves with bottle feeders twice before and neither of them made it. I was using powdered milk replacer mix.
What should I do to save this calf?
gabby