Should I bottle feed?

[j&lfarms]

As some of you know I had a calf born to a young heifer Wed. night. Calf nursed Wed. night and I made sure he nursed on Thursday. However, the heifer isn't really having much to do with the calf. When I go out to check her she is often on the other side of the lot laying down. This morning I went out there and the calf was in the lot and she had jumped the fence. He was pretty weak and was having trouble standing up. I got the heifer up, put out some feed, and packed the calf over to her. Once he started nursing she stood still and he perked up. She walked off and he walked after her and started nursing again. What I am concerned about is if she isn't going to let him nurse when he wants to, should I just go ahead and start bottle feeding? And how long should a 50lb bag of milk replacer last me?

 

[highgrit]

Put the heifer in a pen with the calf. And feed and water her in the pen for a week. Easy to keep and eye on both of them.
You don't want to bottle feed. Good Luck

 

[alisonb]

It would seem like mother is taking a dive for the worst, we could talk you through all possibilities but there are plenty. Is she eating? What is her temperature? You may have to get your vet out.

Good luck!

 

[j&lfarms]

The heifer and the calf is in a 1/2 acre lot together. The heifer keeps jumping the fence or tearing through it to get back to the rest of the cows. The calf nursed and was fine after. As long as the calf gets to her she will let him suckle but she won't go find him.

 

[bbirder]

Lost one last week with a 2 wk old calf. I am now having to bottle feed the calf. You do not want this to happen.Very expensive to lose a momma cow and a lot of trouble to save a calf. I would advise you to call a vet as soon as possible to come look at her. You should not have to supplement a calf that is sucking on mama.
Oh, and I did call the vet. He shot her full of meds, but he was unable to save her. This was an older cow with several calfs to her credit, and yours looks like a very young heifer.

 

[j&lfarms]

It would seem like mother is taking a dive for the worst, we could talk you through all possibilities but there are plenty. Is she eating? What is her temperature? You may have to get your vet out.

Good luck!

The mother is not what I'm concerned about. It's the calf.

 

[j&lfarms]

Let me rephrase my OP. The calf was weak. The heifer jumped the fence and was out in the pasture eating with the rest. Even when she is laying down I can shake my bucket of feed and she will come running. I don't think there is anything wrong with her.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

Half acre is too big to make the heifer take the calf if she don't want too, 20x40ft would be nice but that may not be possible in this situation. If the heifer is really not feeding it enough and the calf is going downhill, if it was me I would be bottle feeding the calf by the end of today, before it's too late.

 

[M5farm]

Half acre is too big to make the heifer take the calf if she don't want too, 20x40ft would be nice but that may not be possible in this situation. If the heifer is really not feeding it enough and the calf is going downhill, if it was me I would be bottle feeding the calf by the end of today, before it's too late.

I agree with denver on this. I have given help to calves before just to get them aggressive and strong enough. there is a fine line when doin this he need enough to survive but not to much that he wont try to nurse. If she is a first calf heifer she is new to this situation. I'll bet she figures it out.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

I wouldn't say for sure she is going to figure it out, but she could, and I have probably take calves from cows in the past that might have figured it out, but I wasn't taking the chance , it might be different for you though, in my case they were alwSys out in 80 or more acre fields with some woods mixed in, so if I didn't take and feed the calf when I had the chance, I might not ever see it again.

 

[j&lfarms]

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to give her a while longer to see how she does.

 

[Chris H]

Since that heifer is only about 16 months old, I'd think real hard about pulling the calf off her and selling it. Turn the heifer out with the others and let her get rebred sooner than if she's feeding the calf.
Advantages: Less feed required for that heifer. Maybe a couple hundred for the bottle calf with no more input. Heifer will bounce back and get bred quicker.

 

[CKC1586]

Put the heifer in a pen with the calf. And feed and water her in the pen for a week. Easy to keep and eye on both of them.
You don't want to bottle feed. Good Luck

Agree. Put them together feed the heck out of Mom. Watch the little guy to be sure she continues to bond and let him nurse. Good luck. :tiphat:

 

[BRYANT]

Sell the cow and calf,take the money and put it toward some working pens that cows can not jump or tear down. its hard to have cattle with out a corral to work them in , that jumping and tearing down fence is a BIG no-no for a cow on my place. gets them a one way ticket to stockyards

 

[chippie]

I agree with selling the cow. I don't care if she is young or not. She should still want to be a mother.
This one does not. Plus once a cow learns that she can go through or over a fence, she will be a problem to work as she gets older.
Can you say "hard to pen'?

 

[denvermartinfarms]

If she hasn't changed yet I would sell her, but I don't understand why anyone thinks he should sell the calf?

 

[Taurus]

I would penned them up for a week. If she don't change, sell her and put a killing price on her. Forget about breeding her...she failed the mothering test and you don't want a repeat cow.

 

[chippie]

Pulling the calf off or selling the calf would allow her time to mature and breed back. She would be putting her energy into herself rather than feeding a calf.

Also, if she isn't letting it nurse, she may start drying up. I went back and looked at the original pics and she doesn't look like she has much of a bag.
Hopefully she would accept the 2nd calf.

 

[Taurus]

Pulling the calf off or selling the calf would allow her time to mature and breed back. She would be putting her energy into herself rather than feeding a calf.

Also, if she isn't letting it nurse, she may start drying up. I went back and looked at the original pics and she doesn't look like she has much of a bag.
Hopefully she would accept the 2nd calf.

I had a heifer in the past. She rejected her first calf and I penned them for a week. The heifer dried up and I had to bottle fed the calf. I trade the heifer for a young calf. Heard the heifer rejected her second calf and the calf died. The heifer was shipped out.

The big issue is that your heifer will be last one to have a calf next year too and you will have to pen them up again.

 

[j&lfarms]

I checked them today and the calf and heifer is doing fine. I put a heifer in with her and I haven't had any other problems. This cow just doesn't want to be alone. The calf is suckling when it wants too. Today when I first walked out there he ran up and butted my leg and ran off. Momma didn't like that too much but I'll just watch her when I'm around the calf. I guess it just took her a day or two to figure everything out.


And to the guy who said I needed to sale her and invest in better pens: I have good pens fences and chutes on my grandmothers farm. I just had them at a families place so I could let my pasture grow up.