SconnieBeef":1uky8xnb said:
Hi guys, my other heifer gave birth to her first calf early this morning, unassisted. I was wondering if maybe the birth was a kinda hard or long though because the calf was covered in manure? I wiped most of this off but the mom didn't seem that interested in the calf and keeps trying to take care of the other cows 4 day old calf. I don't really have a great setup for an extended seperation but I've got the pair by themselves in the barn and after seeing me bottle feed her colostrum it seems she may have gotten a little jealous and came over and started to lick her quite a bit. I finally had to leave to go to work for a little bit but she wasn't kicking her or knocking her down anymore so I hope thats a good sign, my wife will be checking on them often. I would think I will have to keep them seperated for at least a week or so to make sure she doesn't try to take care of that other calf again when she sees it right?
Thanks in advance for all the great advice I'm sure I'll get. :tiphat:
OK, most likely what has happened is that just before she gave birth, with all the hormones going on in her, she decided that the older calf was her calf. This isn't an exceptionally uncommon thing to have happen, especially if you are calving in a small area. Although I've seen it happen when cows were on a large area as well. Sometimes the mothering instinct is so strong that they will run around looking for a calf before they have even calved, and if they find a young calf, they will take it for their own. Usually it happens with fairly newborn calves (under a day or 2 old). Then when they calve, they don't really want their own calf. Some (like your heifer) aren't really sure which calf they want more, and some are absolutely sure that the older calf is theirs and it will be a big fight to convince her that her own calf is hers.
The other thing that might have happened is that when she had her calf, she got up and the first calf she found was the older calf, or maybe they were close enough together that she thinks they are both hers. We've had cows calve back to back, get up and both take 1 calf, or take each other's calf. It's not such a big problem if they each claim a calf (even if it isn't actually theirs) but when they both want one and nobody wants the other then it's a little more interesting.
As far as the calf being covered in manure, that's not too big a problem, and likely not why she doesn't want her own calf. It may or may not be cause by the length of birth, most likely by the wet calf trying to get up and falling down in the manure.
You did right by separating them. If she's licking it and not trying to kick it off then things are probably coming along just fine. But keep a good eye on them to make sure that the calf is sucking her and she is letting it. Sometimes a calf will get kicked a couple of times and then won't try to suck again because it thinks/knows that it will get kicked again.
As far as feeding it colostrum, you did the right thing. I wouldn't worry about it changing the scent of the calf. If this heifer isn't sure about the calf, I doubt that the change in scent from the colostrum will change her mind either way.
I don't really know if you need to use the headgate or not. That's for you to decide. Whatever the case, I really wouldn't put the calf in the chute with the cow. That is asking for trouble. If the cow were to start fighting the headgate she could easily trample the calf and there would be nothing you could do about it. BUT, would there be anyway you could remove a bar from your alley? And if you do put the cow down the chute to deal with this, make sure and tie the back leg back (on the side you're working on) so she cannot kick you or the calf.
Another option would be to put a halter on her, tie her up, and then also tie one back leg back. This is best done against a fence if possible.
Hopefully you don't have to worry about any of that and your heifer takes the calf on her own. One of the joys of working with heifers is that they just aren't sure about things. That can make things easier (not as hard to convince her to take a different calf) or harder (because she might take someone elses calf...)
Feels Good
