Twins this morning

[cah]

Hello, Have not been on here in awhile, We had a heifer have twins early this morning, she pushed and pushed.. nothing ended up calling the vet.. one foot was behind and the second calf was backward, we did not know it was twins, this heifers condition wend down hill fast in the last week and I was wondering what was going on, now I know. My question is we have never had a set, the vet had to stich because he thought she may prolapse, the heifers milk is coming in but not real good, he gave her a shot to help with that, we drenched them this morning and got them to nurse a bottle about four hours later but not a lot. I got the momma up and both calfs did latch on.... her body condition looks so thin... She is letting them nurse but should I feed a bottle supplement also? Just have never had to do this and feel kind of lost. both calves seem strong and healthy but they must have took every ounce of her they could at the end. Any suggestions would be great. Thank you all for your time.

 

[Farmgirl]

We had twins born on 12/24. I'm not an expert but I can share what we have learned. Our cow had both unassisted. She was confused at first but we put her and the calves in a small pasture, just the 3 of them. She quickly figured out that both calves were hers. We started feeding her to make milk for both babies and it seems to be working. See the link to the thread where I was looking for advice on the best feed. Our vet recommended dairy feed. Feed companies in our area don't make dairy feed because no one has dairy cows. Texasbred recommended a non-medicated hog feed. Seems to be working. She gets about 10-12 pounds of a 18% protein, 5% fiber feed per day and all the hay she wants.

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=81147

Good luck.

Farmgirl

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

We have only had two sets of twins, and in both cases the cow raised them. I would give the heifer some supplementation for a little while, and watch the babies close to make sure they are up and moving. Our last set of twins are now 90 days old, and look great. All we did was feed the cow DDG's for 7 days to help establish her baseline production, then kicked the group out to a pasture on their own. Once I felt comfortable that she could handle it, and they were healthy, she went out with the rest of the group.
Good luck! I like having twins, but we have had two good experiences. I would like to think that Simmental cattle have plenty of milk to raise two without a problem!

 

[snake67]

Personally I hate twins - it is not uncommon to have to raise one of them as the cow will not take two.

Yeah, this happens a lot.

You may have a cow take them both - but anyone here who has raised a lot of animals will tell you it does not always happen that way.

Best to all

Bez

 

[Nite Hawk]

Make sure the less aggressive calf doesn't get pushed out and lose condition, it happens sometimes..

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

You can offer the calves a bottle, but feeding the heifer should help her produce enough for them - IF - she has the genetics to produce enough milk. You cannot make a good milker out of a poor milker with feed. Yes, you can increase her production, no matter what, with suppliment.
Many times, breeders will let the two calves suck for a while, then pull one off.
Are they same sex or heifer/bull? Do you know if they are hfr/bull that the heifer is most likely a non-breeder - called a freemartin?

 

[cah]

We are bottle feeding along with them nursing. Momma does not have a lot of milk but lets them both suck. Vet thinks now that she is eating she should make more milk. So for now we are offering bottle twice a day of two qts per feeding. They are heifers, one concern i do have is i noticed tonight that one kind of mooed when she was starting to pee , i took a warm wash clothe as a farm friend said to to do, it did work and she started to go better. the other one had a tiny bit of blood in stool tonight, is it possible for them to get constatpated? also one other concern, we are in ohio, our weather is 60 out today by monday it is going to be in low 20 s .. any input on this would be great. we have never raised twins and I want to make sure I am doing everything we can do to keep them healthy. thanks for all the advice.

 

[Bigfoot]

I had twins born this morning. Same cow two years in a row. She has plenty milk for one, but not two. Last year I bought a bottle calf to go with it. Two is no more trouble than one. I guess I'll do the same thing again.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I had twins born this morning. Same cow two years in a row. She has plenty milk for one, but not two. Last year I bought a bottle calf to go with it. Two is no more trouble than one. I guess I'll do the same thing again.

That was a little confusing - you mean you took one of the twins away from dam & added another bottle baby to raise with it?
I know you don't want to hear this - but for newbies - it is not advised to bring newborn calves onto your farm from another farm (or any cattle). Healthy cattle at one farm have resistance to bugs common to THAT farm. Healthy cattle from another farm may be carrying bugs that they are resistant to but YOUR herd is NOT. Bringing 1 baby calf to your farm can jeopardize the health of all your future calves.
cah - you mentioned your cow "lost a lot of weight the last week". She probably had been losing weight all along, you just didn't notice it until she really "dropped". With twins, even mature cows will be in a lower BCS than her herdmates. With heifers, it can be disastrous.