We have a neighbor that called us and said he had a calf that he didn't think was nursing and it didn't look very good and asked what he should do. We went and picked the little one up and brought him to our barn. He had a bad case of pnemonia so we have him some antibiotics and a shot of minerals. I tried to bottle feed him but he was so weak I was only able to force about 1/4 cup in him. We bedded him down and weren't sure he would even make it through the night. Next morning he looked much better. He couldn't stand on his own at first (too weak) and for two days I tried different methods of bottle feeding and tried different brands of milk replacer. He wouldn't take the milk and would actually spit it out. We put a cow in with him that is a good milker to see if he would even attempt to nurse and he wasn't even interested. Instead he went right for her bucket of feed. (The calf was only a week and a half old at the time) So after that I just kept the feed and hay poured to him. I tried mixing in powdered milk and whenever i would do that he wouldn't touch the feed but as soon as I gave him feed with no milk he would eat it up. We have had him for about 2 months now and he is doing great. He is about a month behind weight wise but he is growing pretty good. Just curious if anyone else has ever had this problem? Do you think it would be wise to sell the momma or wait and see what happens next year?
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Calf Doesn't Like Milk?
- Thread starter ezeranch
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Soapweed
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An esophageal feeder works well to drench a calf that won't suck. We keep powdered colostrum to give a calf like this. It sounds like your calf is now doing well on dry feed, so it is probably too late to try this drenching trick. With newborns not desiring to suck, if drenched once, usually they are ready to suck their mothers when they next get hungry.
Shortgrass
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I've tubed them up to a week or so before they will suck, but like Soapweed says, that tube is indispensable.
Soapweed
Well-known member
Shortgrass said:I've tubed them up to a week or so before they will suck, but like Soapweed says, that tube is indispensable.
It sure beats the old pop bottle that we used to use. :wink:
Work Hard and Study Hard
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Next time tube the calf. I honestly can't believe he survived given his surcamstances. That's one tough calf.
If he had been born at our place we would have tubed him but he was already over a week old so I wasn't sure if I should tube or not. I am just as surprised that he has survived. He is a tough little one. I honestly didn't think he was going to make it through that first night.
Faster horses
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Years ago we had a bum hereford calf that REFUSED to suck a bottle. But we were able to bucket break her and she did fine that way. First and last time we ever had anything like that.
Some don't have the intestinal flora to digest milk and it gives them a belly ach. This commonly happens if you treat them with antibiotics for pnemonia. You should tube them with colostrum with a biotic mixed with it. Yougart works as good as anything and the calves like it. I always mix yougart with colostrum for calves like this. I call it my miracle concoction.
After the colostrum in a couple days I mix an egg and corn syrup into the milk replacer for a couple days. I've saved more calves with this porcedure than with antibiotics. Don't take them away from the mother. More than likely they will get hungry and start to nurse.
Faster horses
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It has been our experience that probiotics help in many situations. I'm sure they could be used more than they are.
One fall, for some reason, there was a lot of bloat in our area. We had one calf that was really sick and we doctored him, only to have him bloat. And bloat again. We tubed him, of course, but we had never experienced this before. Our Vigortone vet advised us to give him probiotic, as bloat affects the rumen. We did as he suggested and it worked. The calf never bloated again. We had several calls from customers asking what to do for their bloated cattle. We told them what we had found out. Interesting that when I followed up the phone calls to find out how the cattle were, 100% that were given the probiotic survived. All the others died.
I know that when we were doctoring all those calves in W. Montana, we learned to give probiotic then and it certainly helped big time. If you are giving antibiotic and you see a change in the manure, you probably would do yourself a favor to administer probiotic. That manure change is showing change in the rumen. Cattle MUST HAVE a healthy rumen.
One fall, for some reason, there was a lot of bloat in our area. We had one calf that was really sick and we doctored him, only to have him bloat. And bloat again. We tubed him, of course, but we had never experienced this before. Our Vigortone vet advised us to give him probiotic, as bloat affects the rumen. We did as he suggested and it worked. The calf never bloated again. We had several calls from customers asking what to do for their bloated cattle. We told them what we had found out. Interesting that when I followed up the phone calls to find out how the cattle were, 100% that were given the probiotic survived. All the others died.
I know that when we were doctoring all those calves in W. Montana, we learned to give probiotic then and it certainly helped big time. If you are giving antibiotic and you see a change in the manure, you probably would do yourself a favor to administer probiotic. That manure change is showing change in the rumen. Cattle MUST HAVE a healthy rumen.
