Twin Calves...Mother rejects one

[Chief-Dave]

I have a Dexter cow that we believe had twins. The cow has taken good care of the first calf ( a bull ) and rejected the second calf (a heifer). We have hand fed the heifer since day one. She is small, even for a dexter, but seems to be in fine shape. She eats grain and hay without a problem, and we have had her out with the other cattle most of the time. My question is....at what point should she be taken off of milk replacer, and , is it true that she may not be able to reproduce when she is older?

 

[dun]

If you keep graining her you can take her of the replacer at around 8 weeks. If you're not going to grain her, leave her on replacer till shes 6-7 months old. Over 90% of the heifers born twin to bulls are sterile. Do a search on here for freemartin, a wealth of information.

 

[htrc]

Be sure she is eating a good quality grain,calf starter. No need to feed her milk replacer after she is 8 weeks old if she is eating plenty of grain.
Most likely she will not be a breeder. If her twin were a heifer she would prob. be O.K..