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andrews29

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colorado
went out to feed at 830 this morning had a cow that had what looks like a still born bull calf. cow was seen at 700 and everything looked normal. calf was rather large and this cow is a small cow. this was the first calf we have had as we are very new to having cows. went to the dairy and got a calf he has not nursed but she seems to be taking him she is watching him and cleaning him, vet recommened that i rub the after birth on the calf. any comments would be great :(
 
andrews29":1ye1meem said:
went out to feed at 830 this morning had a cow that had what looks like a still born bull calf. cow was seen at 700 and everything looked normal. calf was rather large and this cow is a small cow. this was the first calf we have had as we are very new to having cows. went to the dairy and got a calf he has not nursed but she seems to be taking him she is watching him and cleaning him, vet recommened that i rub the after birth on the calf. any comments would be great :(
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If the cow is tending the calf but the calf isn;t nursing you might want to restrain her and help the calf. Calf may not realize that milk comes form those pink things hanging under a cow instead of a plastic bottle with a rubber nipple.
 
we did try that tonight and calf did not want her. dairy said calf had a bottle of colostrum we also milked the cow and tried to get the calf to take some that way and he still did not want it. if he has not nursed by morning we will try again
 
Put you cow in a chute and milk a couple of pints out of her. Take a sponge to that milk and put that milk all over the calf. Coat it head to toe. Let it dry. Give the cow some time to settle and then put the calf with the cow.
 
If your heifer is "cleaning" the calf, I'd guess she's accepted him. If that is the case, then restrain moma heifer and bring the calf up to her udder and force him to suck. Like Dun said, the calf may not know that his food is there. You have a heifer and a calf that are totally lost now; you need to show them what they need to do.

Good luck!
 
cypressfarms":29hxg6tp said:
If your heifer is "cleaning" the calf, I'd guess she's accepted him.
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My thoughts exactly. That's why I felt it would be a wate of time to do all of the calf claiming stuff.
 
great news got calf up to his new mom got him to nurse mom did not fight much kicked at me one time other than that all went well.
 
Jeanne - Simme Valley":3p10zzq2 said:
Congrats.
"some times" when you find a DOA calf, it's because she had a hard time calving - calf may have been breech - or just took too long because of it's size.
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And then the moma associates that pain with the calf and kicks or butts the calf when it tries to nurse. Usaully though, if the cow is licking the calf, and she's letting the calf suck - I'd say you have it made, and they'll be fine.

Keep us updated!
 

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