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Stupid Heifer Syndrome

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sic 'em reds

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Why is it that every once in a while 1st calf heifers have to act so stupid?

Had to pull a calf Thursday, only wieghed 83 lbs, but had a foot back. Got it out, put it with the heifer, she liked it for a while so I took off to go do other things. Come back and when the calf would try to suck she kicked at it.

So run her in the headgate and tied a leg back. Calf happy, heifer relieved. So yesterday morning, calf trying to suck, heifers kicks. Back to the headgate. Then I seperated the calf and cow all day to where the cow could see her calf but couldn't get to it. Went back last night, let the calf in with the cow went to suck, cow lifted her leg, but she heard this fierce growl come from behind the tractor and thought she better let the calf suck!

Stupid heifer.
 
sic 'em reds said:
Why is it that every once in a while 1st calf heifers have to act so stupid?

Had to pull a calf Thursday, only wieghed 83 lbs, but had a foot back. Got it out, put it with the heifer, she liked it for a while so I took off to go do other things. Come back and when the calf would try to suck she kicked at it.

So run her in the headgate and tied a leg back. Calf happy, heifer relieved. So yesterday morning, calf trying to suck, heifers kicks. Back to the headgate. Then I seperated the calf and cow all day to where the cow could see her calf but couldn't get to it. Went back last night, let the calf in with the cow went to suck, cow lifted her leg, but she heard this fierce growl come from behind the tractor and thought she better let the calf suck!

Stupid heifer.
Click to expand...


I growl to when that happens. :wink:
 
ive had that happen to me last year with two heifers in the same day...neither one would except the calf for a week...i would let them in the headgate and let the calf suck but once outta the head gate if they werent eating they wouldnt let them suck...so in the mean time one of my cows lost a calf...i graphted twins on to that cow...heifers stayed dry all summer and that cow ended up raising both the heifers calves...both weaned at over #500...wow was i lucky
 
sic 'em reds said:
Why is it that every once in a while 1st calf heifers have to act so stupid?

Had to pull a calf Thursday, only wieghed 83 lbs, but had a foot back. Got it out, put it with the heifer, she liked it for a while so I took off to go do other things. Come back and when the calf would try to suck she kicked at it.

So run her in the headgate and tied a leg back. Calf happy, heifer relieved. So yesterday morning, calf trying to suck, heifers kicks. Back to the headgate. Then I seperated the calf and cow all day to where the cow could see her calf but couldn't get to it. Went back last night, let the calf in with the cow went to suck, cow lifted her leg, but she heard this fierce growl come from behind the tractor and thought she better let the calf suck!

Stupid heifer.
Click to expand...



I like how you stated in the first line..Why is it every once in awhile...lol Oh that's funny....I'm thinking all 1st calf heifers are goofy in many many different ways..lol :lol:
 
Another option which has worked for me on both heifers that won't let their calves suck, or on graft projects is to drug the cow with xylazine. I usually put the cow in a headcatch, let the calf start sucking, inject the cow, wait a few minutes (until drug starts working), and then let them both out into a pen (minimum 12'x12'). Usually the cow is beginning to feel drowsy and the calf is enthusiastic about nursing. You must be able to stick around a few minutes to make sure the cow doesn't lay down on the calf. Believe it or not, once the cow wakes up again, she usually stands up, groggy. The calf should have enough confidence to nurse her again before the drug wears off. The whole trick is to handle her as quiet as possible at this point DO NOT HIT THE COW, this only makes things worse. If she does happen to start kicking the calf off again, I usually separate the two for a bit, and let her sleep the rest of the drug off. 90% of the time I've had the cow wake up and really want to take her calf. Maybe I'm lucky, but I calve by myself, and don't have time to mess around. My motto is "drug them til' they like them"! Also, xylazine quality varies, and I only use brands with gold "Quality Value" seals (Vedco). Good Luck!
 
I don't know if this has been proven by the experts or not, but I think that when you pull a calf you take away from the natural process and that something doesn't get triggered in the heifer. I have seen this in several of our heifers over the years. They act like they don't know what has happened and they don't know what to do. Then when you finally get the calf to take off and suck you'll come back and he'll be standing at the headgate waiting for you to put mom in so he can suck. That is the one that gets me. Last year I had a heifer that had a 123lb calf, hence the fact that I went out and bought some low BW black bulls for this yrs heifers. If you ever want to know how to piss off a die hard Hereford man, that will do it!!Anyway I had a CSection done on that heifer, the calf didn't suck that night and then wouldn't get up the next day. So I put the cow in the chute and held the little monster up this went on for two days until he was strong enough so get up on his own. The next am when I went over to the barn he was standing at the chute butting it and sucking on the metal. Go figure. I ended up taking him off and putting him on a milk cow. I love first calve heifers when all else fails they will trade babies or just take someone elses!! One heifer last year wouldn't let her own calf suck out in the pasture, so I brought her in several times and kept them in until I thought they were paired up good, when I let her out she would take off , leave her baby at the barn and go steal someone elses. She took a trip to town.
 
Yeah.. Xylecine is what a lot of folks around here would recommend. Dumb the cow down for a while, 1 cc or something like that... It works, just don't be like my neighbor and give a cow 10 cc's of "Banamine" before realizine it as Xylacine..
 
Heel Fly I'd have to agree on the pulling part. Some heifers can manage it and some get dazed or something.

The best thing I have ever done to get a cow to take a calf, this is on a graft, is to hobble her up. I had one that lost her calf after three days that I grafted a twin onto. Took me about a week but it worked. I took the calf in to the vet to be posted since that was the second I had lost that way, but I should have taken part of the hide.

Never heard of that drug, interesting though.
 
xylacine? Is that the same stuff as promace? We have used promace before with mixed results. Sometimes they come out of it and take the calf and others I think just get addicted to the drug and never do claim the calf. Ha
 
Rompun would be a trade name for it...

Some others would use ACE... I don't know chemical name for that one... Basically a tranq... Don't use it personally but have seen it used..
 

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