super heifer?

[Lazy M]

I had 2 old cows lay down and quit on me last Thurs and Fri. In both cases they were in decent condition, but I think that age, this tough winter, and young calves all contributed to them giving it up.
I caught both the calves and brought them to my father-in-laws farm. He had 2 heifers that both lost their calves last week. After repeatedly tying up the cows and forcing them to allow the calves to nurse this weekend, we were able to get one of the hiefers to claim a calf, but the other one refused the calf and would butt and kick it whenever she wasn't tied up (she'll be sold this week). The other hiefer will now allow both calves to nurse her.
I told my FIL that I'd buy the hiefer, and I wonder if I keep her in the barn with plenty of feed if she will be able to nurse both calves. I thought that I could wean one calve in late May and turn her out to pasture, with the other calf, to be exposed to the bulls.
My concern is if I will ruin this hiefer by allowing her to nurse 2 calves even with extra feed. Both the calves were born in early Jan and probably weigh close to 170lbs. Any thoughts?

 

[branguscowgirl]

You could always start teaching them to drink milk from a bucket to help her out. Definitely put her in and feed her really well. Did she still have plenty of milk? Or start to dry up already?

 

[Lazy M]

So far she seems to be holding up, but we only introduced the 2nd calf on Sunday PM. I'm going to try keeping the calves separate from the cow except for when I feed her in the morning and in the evening. Then she'll have some time to recover, and I'll keep some hay and starter feed with the calves. Hopefully they'll start eating it..

 

[Tim/South]

My calves born in early January are beginning to eat hay fairly well. At 170 pounds they should do well on a good quality feed and supplementing from the heifer. Keep feed in front of the calves and feed the momma well.