skinny twin bottle baby

[sidney411]

OK, so little orphan Annie is doing well except that she is skinny. She was 2 weeks old as of last thursday. She is getting a bottle of Jersey milk in the morning and 2 in the evening. She drains them quick and seems like she wants more but I'm afraid to give her more for fear of scouring on the rich milk. She has stools that are yellow and loose, but not watery. I don't think she has scours, it just looks like milk poop. I have out water and calf manna and I give her some in her mouth after she drinks her bottle but she is still spitting it out. I've given her vitamin b complex and pro-bios. She is very active and alert, not dehydrated, eyes are bright and nose is damp. No temp. The only thing is she looks like skin and bones, before each feeding she's drawn up in the gut, and her hip bones and back bones are prevalent. Her twin does not look at all like that and he is probably 50% bigger then her now. Am I missing something?

 

[jt]

calf sounds to me like everything is ok except maybe not enough to eat?? i would probably try giving a little more milk... in the morning first and see how she does with that... and increase from there..

how much does the bottle hold? if it is like mine it is a 1/2 gal bottle...

jt

 

[TheBullLady]

Give her more milk if you have it to spare. She'll be fine.. just gradually increase her intake. We routinely feed bottle calves WAY more than suggested on the bag of replacer.

 

[jerry27150]

what breed calf is it? if it is part jersey it will look thin

 

[sidney411]

The dairyman said to only feed her one bottle in the morning and one in the evening. I've already uped that 50% and on the days I'm there I mix up a bottle of replacer in the morning so she's getting 2 gallons a day. 1 bottle=1/2 gallon. Shes 1/2 red brangus 1/2 gelveih/angus. Her brother is already looking a lot more fuller and beefier. I guess since he's on momma he's got an all-day buffet :lol: I just figured that the jersey milk would fatten one up pretty quickly. The last calf we raised on the jersey milk was always a butterball and he only got 1 gallon a day.

 

[jerry27150]

jersey milk usually is high in butterfat, but not always. i am confused on whether she is getting all jersey milk or you say if your there she gets a bottle of replacer. what does she get if you are not there mornings? is it 20% fat replacer. why not let each calf suck on the jersey twice a day at the same time? this is what my son is doing now. 2-3 quarts morning & night of milk or good replacer would be fine, but she won't grow as good as the one on the cow.

 

[Linda]

I wonder if there was twin to twin transfer in utero. One twin took most of the nourishment, while the other was stunted due to lack of nutrition. It has to do with the blood circulation between the twins before they are born. If so, she might be slow to catch up, if she ever does. I wouldn't overfeed her. Just give her time and TLC and I'll bet she does fine.

 

[sidney411]

Jerry - sorry to be confusing. During the week my brother in law takes care of her. He lives on the farm. I'm only there on the weekends usually. He gives her 1/2 gallon in the morning and 1 gallon in the evening. When I am there I feed her. I gave her an extra bottle in the morning of replacer so she got 1/2 gallon of milk and 1/2 gallon of replacer in the morning and 1 gallon of milk in the evening. The milk is from the jersey dairy down the road, I do not have a jersey cow, or a lactating cow with out a baby of their own, so we have been going to the dairy to get the milk. I got "land of lakes" replacer from the COOP. I didn't look at the tag but they said it was the best they had. I just am not happy with her progress. I hope no one comes by and see's her, they would think we are starving the poor girl.

I've never heard of that Linda, interesting though. How would you know if that happened?