supplementing new calf with milk replacer

[rjbovine]

I had a new calf monday morning . Born to a herford hefier . The little guy act like he's not getting enough to eat . The calf is healthy ,fairly active . But nurses alot . He acts like he's not getting full .
Would supplementing be a good idea ? Thanks for your help .

 

[Dixieangus]

small calves, especially newborns, eat several times a day. If he wags his tail while he nurses then hes getting milk

 

[dun]

even better then the tail wagging is if he pees or poops.
But no, supplementing him won;t hurt anything. But he may be really hard to get to nurse the rubber nipple after he's had the real thing

 

[rjbovine]

Up date on calf . We gave him around three pints of milk replacer tonight . Calf was happy to get it. Know problem with him taking the rubber nipple . Now the question what to do with the hefier ? Will she get any better milking ? If I keep her will I have the same problem next time .She has a really nice frame , great disposition , lot of eye pigment . Would you take another chance with her ?

 

[hillsdown]

RJ she could come into enough milk this lactation, it also could be the calf doesn't like to work that hard for a feeding. Meaning they get tired of sucking after a few minutes so the bottle is much easier for them to get a meal. I would keep supplementing him for now and would not be surprised that very soon he will not take a bottle anymore as he has learned to get it form mom.

 

[jcarkie]

the milk doesn't come down for a few days after birth. most newborns dont even suck all 4 qtrs for the first couple weeks. she may not have enough but i would give her a little time, i sure wouldn't want to bottle feed a calf for her, she would be taking a hike if she were mine, but next time she may do better. you will know in a few months by the condition of the calf.

 

[B&M Farms]

Its normal for a newborn calf to nurse frequently. If you supplement you can cause the cow not to produce enough milk. The first day or two the cow can produce mostly clostrum. Some cows wont produce alot of milk right at first. The demand of the calf stimulates more milk production. If she turns out to be a poor milker for a heifer i would ship her. Keep in mind most heifers are not fully developed with their first calf and usually do better the second time around.

 

[bird dog]

I wouldn't consider shipping her until after her second calf. Good heifers are to expensive to take a loss on this soon in my opinion. I would not bottle feed the calf for more than a couple days if at all. Give the mother a chance. Yes it may turn out somewhat smaller than the other calves but thats the way it is with heifers. You had a healthy calf with this heifer. What you swap her for might be worse.

 

[msscamp]

Would you take another chance with her ?

If she meets your criteria as a keeper, yes, I would give her another chance. First time mothers generally don't milk as well as they do the 2nd time around because they are still developing themselves.

 

[mridgecattleco]

Good heifers are to expensive to take a loss on this soon in my opinion. I would not bottle feed the calf for more than a couple days if at all.

I've never bought heifers, I've always saved em. I hate throwing away two years of chores. I'd keep her another year. Sometimes they're alittle slow at milkin.