To bottle feed or not--help

Help Support CattleToday:

tncattle

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 25, 2007
Messages
2,009
Reaction score
14
Location
Tennessee
Here is our situation:

Heifer had a bull calf and doesn't seem like she's going to accept him. We could just sell them both on Monday at the sale barn or my wife & kids want to bottle feed him. We haven't done the bottle feeding thing yet but of course the kids want to do it. I was thinking get him up to around 200-250 lbs and take him to the barn. He needs bottle fed twice a day--right? I assume the milk replacer ain't cheap? What to do?
 
One calf and kids= a responsibility lesson. it will be fun for them for about 3 days then it will be a chore. you can't put a price on life lessons

feed the calf!
 
I don't live at my farm so the couple we have had to deal with are generally fed and kept alive until the next sale and hauled in. I am with M5 though; if you have the time and facilities it would be a great lesson for your kids. Wife too maybe. ;-)
 
M5farm":96yoffhj said:
One calf and kids= a responsibility lesson. it will be fun for them for about 3 days then it will be a chore. you can't put a price on life lessons

feed the calf!

X2, make the kids commit to feeding him if you keep him. The will argue as to who gets to feed him for about three days then argue about who has to feed him, but they make a commitment, as stated a great life lesson.

I've only raised one bottle calf, but fed plenty of bottle calves on the dairy. It's not that bad if you have a bottle hanger that can be secured (I used a bungy strap). Milk replacer isn't or wasn't too bad, I believe you want medicated, it's been a while for me, but if you do a search some great info on bottle feeding here.

Let then make the kids feed the calf, you may want to give them a carrot, like half the sale proceeds or something.

:2cents: feed the calf.
 
tncattle":2pyuoqks said:
Here is our situation:

Heifer had a bull calf and doesn't seem like she's going to accept him. We could just sell them both on Monday at the sale barn or my wife & kids want to bottle feed him. We haven't done the bottle feeding thing yet but of course the kids want to do it. I was thinking get him up to around 200-250 lbs and take him to the barn. He needs bottle fed twice a day--right? I assume the milk replacer ain't cheap? What to do?
Tncattle... what is the heifer doing that you think she is not accepting her calf? Can you tell by looking at her bag if she has been nursed?? Just because she is not constantly by her calf's side doesn't mean she is rejecting it. What does the calf look like? How is it acting??
 
First off, the calf lives. Be it a bottle or whatever.

I have a nursing crate for my nurse cow. 3 years ago I had a heifer reject her calf. Put her in a squeeze with a head gate and got the calf hooked up. Then I loaded them in a trailer and hauled them here to the house. Twice a day the heifer was crated and the calf nursed. Calf kept the cow's scent that way and she finally accepted it. Then I hauled her back to the pasture. Probably a week or so later. If one of my nurse cows had been wet at the time that heifer would have gone to the sale barn alone.

Cypress suggested I give the heifer another try. I did and she has worked out.
 
Here is what I suggest you do.
At the dinner table tonight ask your wife if she would like to have another child and base your decision on her answer!
Liz
 
NC Liz 2":zs9c3qoz said:
Here is what I suggest you do.
At the dinner table tonight ask your wife if she would like to have another child and base your decision on her answer!
Liz

your kidding right? having a child equates to raising a calf? glad your not my mother :cowboy:
 
We've decided for now to get mama in the head catch morning and evening and let the calf nurse that way. The calf nurses great when we do that and would the normal way if mama would let him. When he tries to nurse with her not restrained she butts him away and won't let him.
 
OK on a serious not!

We are talking about this calf right?
Born: found Wed Jan 01, 2014
http://ranchers.net/photopost/data/500/ ... _calf1.jpg

Today is Fri. 1/3/14 The calf is now 2 days old.

If this is the calf, he was born perfectly health and if momma is the one who cleaned him up, she has the motherly instinct and should feed him.

It may just be that her milk has not come down yet. You may just want to wait another day and see what happens.

Before I go any further, is this the calf we are talking about?
And can we have pic from today?
Liz
 
NC Liz 2":2ryctybe said:
OK on a serious not!

We are talking about this calf right?
Born: found Wed Jan 01, 2014
http://ranchers.net/photopost/data/500/ ... _calf1.jpg

Today is Fri. 1/3/14 The calf is now 2 days old.

If this is the calf, he was born perfectly health and if momma is the one who cleaned him up, she has the motherly instinct and should feed him.

It may just be that her milk has not come down yet. You may just want to wait another day and see what happens.

Before I go any further, is this the calf we are talking about?
And can we have pic from today?
Liz


No it's not that calf, that one in the pic is doing great and mama is doing great also. This is the one the vet pulled and mama is being a jerk about the whole thing. I have a pic from today of him nursing while mama is in the head-catch but I have to get my wife to post it as I'm a moron in that area. :???:
 
While I wait for a response let me say this.

Your question "to bottle feed or not" is just one of two questions you should be asking at this time.
The other is "should I cull this heifer or not"?
Which is why you need to determine exactly what the problem is now.
And there is no better time to find that out then when the problem exists.
Strike while the iron is hot, so to speak.

If we can determine what the problem is, if any, it will make both of your decisions easier to make.
And that is my reason for asking so many questions.

Right now you have a perfectly salable pair and I would hate to see you loss/sell either or both.
Liz
 
OK, that's what I needed to know.

Vet bill--- strike one
Trouble calving--- strike two
Being a jerk and won't feed calf STRIKE THREE
Put wheels under her ASAP

As for the calf.
I would sell them as a pair to help cut your loses and further expenses and relieve you of any further risk factor/possible loss of raising an orphan calf.
Sorry
Liz
Just curious: Was this heifer bred by the same bull as the others?
 
If you have the time, don't give up on them yet. I've had this problem many times and most of the time I am successful at getting her to take the calf. If you have the time, put heifer in head gate 2-3 times a day and let calf nurse for 15-20 min. This will let the heifer get used to it and calf will know where his food is at. After he gets a few more days old, he'll probably pester the heck out of the cow until she accepts.

Keep them in a small pen together. Also, you can try putting the heifer in the head gate and let calf get started nursing just long enough to get appetite going. Then let them out in small pen. He'll still be going after the heifer and if she won't let him nurse, try to get her attention on you and not the calf.

Like I said, this will more than likely work if you have the time. I would do my best to get her to accept it. She is useless to you if she's not raising a calf.
 
Dwa,
I don't disagree with you as I to have used some similar procedures.
But, that does not answer the question "does she even have any or enough milk to feed him.

Before I went to all that trouble I would recommend she be put in a chute and milked out to see if she has atleast 2 qt of milk and bottle feed it to her calf.
Also, before milking I would recommend a rough up of her teats and udder with a dry wash cloth and simulated head butts to the udder while roughing up her teats.
Then try putting the calf on.
If she don't let him suck or he seems to not be getting milk, then try milking her out to see if she actually has milk.

Other then that you could just separate them over night next to each other and then put them together in the morning, so you are sure to be there at feeding time to see if he is in fact not being allowed to suck or is just not getting any milk.
Liz
 
tncattle":2hb26lr1 said:
We've decided for now to get mama in the head catch morning and evening and let the calf nurse that way. The calf nurses great when we do that and would the normal way if mama would let him. When he tries to nurse with her not restrained she butts him away and won't let him.

That should work out just fine. Calf will keep the "right" scent that way since it is nursing the dam. A week or so and your problem could go away. Calf will have much more strength and balance by then. Nursing will give the cow some relief on those full teats.
 
NC Liz 2":3ot0l4nm said:
OK, that's what I needed to know.

Vet bill--- strike one
Trouble calving--- strike two
Being a jerk and won't feed calf STRIKE THREE
Put wheels under her ASAP

As for the calf.
I would sell them as a pair to help cut your loses and further expenses and relieve you of any further risk factor/possible loss of raising an orphan calf.
Sorry
Liz
Just curious: Was this heifer bred by the same bull as the others?
So now you're an expert?

I wouldn't give up on them either. Most heifers can be jerk and dumb towards to their first calves and its not uncommon behavior. What I did is put the heifer in the chute and let the calf suckled her. After that I put the pair in a small pen where the heifer cannot run away from her calf. If the heifer is still stubborn, I would just distract her with something such as oats or sweet grains and that she will be busy eating and allowing the calf to suckle her. Just have some patience with the heifer, it's usually not overnight as it may take 2 days to a week for her to fully accepting her calf.

Tncattle, just stay on what you just did and you will be fine.
 
tncattle":2rq7no2m said:
We've decided for now to get mama in the head catch morning and evening and let the calf nurse that way. The calf nurses great when we do that and would the normal way if mama would let him. When he tries to nurse with her not restrained she butts him away and won't let him.

Sounds like a plan to me. She'll probably take him. I wouldn't start bottle feeding until I had to.

fitz
 
Taurus":thizwojl said:
NC Liz 2":thizwojl said:
OK, that's what I needed to know.

Vet bill--- strike one
Trouble calving--- strike two
Being a jerk and won't feed calf STRIKE THREE
Put wheels under her ASAP

As for the calf.
I would sell them as a pair to help cut your loses and further expenses and relieve you of any further risk factor/possible loss of raising an orphan calf.
Sorry
Liz
Just curious: Was this heifer bred by the same bull as the others?
So now you're an expert?

I wouldn't give up on them either. Most heifers can be jerk and dumb towards to their first calves and its not uncommon behavior. What I did is put the heifer in the chute and let the calf suckled her. After that I put the pair in a small pen where the heifer cannot run away from her calf. If the heifer is still stubborn, I would just distract her with something such as oats or sweet grains and that she will be busy eating and allowing the calf to suckle her. Just have some patience with the heifer, it's usually not overnight as it may take 2 days to a week for her to fully accepting her calf.

Tncattle, just stay on what you just did and you will be fine.

Liz: read Ken's reply in the other thread, carefully.
Before passing judgment on that heifer.

tncattle - sounds like you're doing fine as said above.
Just thinking - if your kids want a pet bottle calf they'll probably still want one next week, next month, next year - till they get one and learn for themselves how much work they are.
I'd give into that demand sooner rather than later, with one of your own orphans (not a bought calf). And make them do all the work. And insist that they make that calf look as good as momma could. And yes, it'll cost you - milk and feed doesn't come cheap unless it's a scrawny potbelly weaner you want. Liz can tell you how to raise those sort.
 
Just got home and the calf nursed for 35 minutes non-stop, he drained her. The calf is much more lively and wants to nurse vigorously. She still wouldn't let him the normal way but we got her in the head catch and didn't tie her legs and she let him nurse fine.
 

Latest posts

Top