Taken away the bottle and he won't drink water!

[Shelleyz]

Alright I have a Br. Swiss that is 9 weeks old and we have taken away the bottle and the bucket of milk replacer. Now he won't drink water at all from a standing bucket. We have watched him for a couple of days and then even tried to put him on a bottle of water and even a bucket of water. The stubborn thing won't drink these either. What on earth should we do now?? I am beginning to think that Br. swiss are not worth their weight in meat for all the trouble their stubborn butts bring us!!
We do have him in a pen separate from the older steers, If we would put him in with them would it help?
Also, he is eating hay and calf starter really well. Just won't drink!!
Is there any signs that We should look for in dehydration?
Porter (as in Porter house) is working on my last nerve!
Does anyone have any ideas besides a bullet?

 

[angie1]

Sheesh, I have raised a handful of Brown Swiss and got so that I wouldn't take them if they were given to me ~ everyone of them was a PITA! But that is neither here nor there. I have had parents say to me "I don't know what to do, my 2 yr old will not eat anything but mac and cheese." I say they will not starve themselves to death, you are only losing the "who-can-hold-out-the-longest" battle. I would bet that this is the case here. I am thinking he will drink when push comes to shove. I would encourage this to be your first plan of action ~ Just hold out longer. Make sure he is in a place where he is out of the sun!

Signs of dehydration ~ by the time they show up, you have a problem, it is just as it is. Skin staying tented rather than falling back against the body as soon as it is released. Slow capillary refill time (push your finger against his gums, the white spot your finger leaves behind should turn back to pink almost instantly if he is hydrated, if it is slow to turn he is dehydrated). Clumsy, listless, lathargic, inside of mouth dry, eyes dry (and will start to appear sunken). Increased heart rate and respiration. Ears dropped. If you see any of these signs, he has (in my book) earned himself a bottle (with electrolytes). Dehydration is too serious and potentially fatal to play with.

Don't put him in with the older steers yet, they could pose a threat to him if he gets dumpy.

 

[novaman]

Have you or are you giving him warm water, the same temp as the milk was. I find they will readily drink warm water as they think it is milk. Once they start drinking I will steadily drop the temp of the water until it is straight cold. I would think if he is eating starter and hay he would have to be getting thirsty. Are you sure he isn't drinking at least a little bit?

 

[farm36]

Careful a brown swiss can be stubburn enough to kill themselves They have a tough streak . I refuse to take care of them because they will kill them selves to prove at point . Don't try to over power him because he will not drink and die of thrirst. The decisions if he makes them they are fine if you make the decision and force him he will reject and refuse . Put him back on the bottle and put less milk or replacer in the bottle to start him drinking more water.It takes a special talent to take of brown swiss and I try to stay away from them .

 

[showstick09]

Maybe you could try just putting one of the older steers in the pen with the bottle calf. He probably needs a buddy and maybe he would copy the actions of another calf. And you never know, he could be drinking and you not even know it. I mean you can't possibly keep an eye on him for 24 hours. Goodluck with the goofy thing. :banana:

 

[Shelleyz]

First of all THANK YOU!!! to everyone.
We have an update! We will not be getting anymore of these br. swiss if I have anything to do with it!!
This is the 2nd round of the beasts and there is one in each bunch that pushes my buttons! It's worse than my kids.
We had tried a warm bottle of milk, that did the trick on another one but not Porter! I was going to tell my hubby not to let them( there are three) out with the other steers but I didn't in time.
My husband called me from the barn today and said" you will never guess what happened" remembering the one post I said " another steer killed him", Mark said " nope, I let them in the other pen and they ALL went directly to the water troth and drank a gallon each before heading out to the pasture" GET MY GUN!!! I lost sleep over Porter! I am not one to shoot animals at all but this guy might go to the butcher before his time.
SO, thank you everyone, hopefully I don't need to post anything more on this duffus but who knows? I read all of the posts and store it in my memory for another time, trust me, we are new at this and are learning as we go.

 

[jilleroo]

A handful of salt in his mouth would've soon had him heading for the water bucket!

 

[larryshoat]

I have better luck weaning calves slowly, I've seen calves that would just shut down if you weaned suddenly. I usually wean over the course of a week, constantly cutting back on milk, stopping and starting back, just kind of teasing them along .

Larry