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At least it worked the right way. I usually loose the calf at the start of the season and the spares show up at the end of the season. Hope your calving has been going good till then.
 
Yup, only thing worse than finding a sick calf is finding a dead one..............good luck
 
Well I hope your graft goes alittle better than ours.. We had a cow get sick with a two week old calf... The cow died.. Vet didn't know why even made me glove up incase she had rabies.. Did get a bad luck discount from our vet... Bless her heart!! Anyways had a hiefier loose her calf so we put the calf on the hiefier.. She had no use for the calf......


But she will stand quietly in the stancion(sp) for grain and some green grass.. Every morninig I go out and open the stancion in the calf barn.. she sticks her head through for grain and green grass. Calf nurses, when he is done I open the stancion let her out..... CLOSE THE STANCION BACK UP.. Or she stays to eat..... I do feed her on the ground out in the pen.... Sheese.... what have I gotten into??? Guess it beats a titty bottle and calf milk...
 
Another pair this afternoon! First one came by itself, small but alive, the second one came dead, butt first so needed a little assistance.

First time I managed to untangle the mess myself so at least saved a vet bill.

10 cows calved in the past few days and 3 pairs of twins. Only 3 calves to show for it though. :???:

*What I mean is 3 calves from the 3 pairs of twins.
 
katrina said:
Well I hope your graft goes alittle better than ours.. We had a cow get sick with a two week old calf... The cow died.. Vet didn't know why even made me glove up incase she had rabies.. Did get a bad luck discount from our vet... Bless her heart!! Anyways had a hiefier loose her calf so we put the calf on the hiefier.. She had no use for the calf......


But she will stand quietly in the stancion(sp) for grain and some green grass.. Every morninig I go out and open the stancion in the calf barn.. she sticks her head through for grain and green grass. Calf nurses, when he is done I open the stancion let her out..... CLOSE THE STANCION BACK UP.. Or she stays to eat..... I do feed her on the ground out in the pen.... Sheese.... what have I gotten into??? Guess it beats a titty bottle and calf milk...
Click to expand...

I had the same thing last year, she wouldn't take the calf. Until one day the dog came by her pen and she went ballistic at the dog. Ever after that, the grafted on calf was her baby and nothing could touch it! She raised it up to be a smashing good calf too.Weird how that worked out, but I guess some mothering instinct took over when she saw the dog or something.

And all this was after about 3 days of catching her in the squeeze and letting the calf suck twice a day.
 
We ALWAYS skin the dead calf when grafting and it works every time.
Usually it's a matter only of hours and we can turn them out. Mr. FH
makes sure that the tail is attached cuz that's where the cow wants to
smell first. We had one cow years ago that didn't want her own calf,
We put up with that for three years (I guess it took that long for us
to believe her) and we sent her down the road. With her, he tied her
back leg to the corral as there was a little creek that ran through the corral
and we didn't have to water her. As she got nicer about her calf, he
would give her more rope til she could finally be turned loose. In the
corral for a few days of course. Imagine doing that for three years. :???:
Thinking back, we were pretty dumb. :D
 
Took a knife along to skin the dead calf, the corn planter came and planted our corn, the second cow was calving with twins with one breach . . . the skinning job just didn't get done.
 
burnt said:
Took a knife along to skin the dead calf, the corn planter came and planted our corn, the second cow was calving with twins with one breach . . . the skinning job just didn't get done.
Click to expand...

I took the dogs for a run around the hfr pasture the other evening. I had a few I didn't think were very attentive to their calves. It helped but one was knocking her calf around so I brought it in and put it on another Hfr. Had good luck grafting this year so far.
 
I've tried a lot of things when grafting, but my best luck has come with a shot of ace and rompum (sedatives), let the calf suck until she gets pretty drooly, then let the cow in the pen with the calf. I make sure to do it on the very first try. Probably has worked 80-90% of the time for me. I still usually skin the dead one just for good measure. I think I give 2 cc of ace and 0.5 cc rompum mixed in the muscle, but check with your vet to make sure i got that right. Usually takes 30 min to get her loopy enough to put her in with the calf, and 3+ hrs for it to wear off.
 
Burnt that 50% survival of twin calves with extra work is about my average to. My grandfather used to say "just one nice healthy little calf....." Mel
 
ace takes all the work out of grafting , It works most every time . I have used it for years .
 
Hide and a bath ofgraft cow's milk and baking soda on the calf's lower legs and head. Sometimes feed the calf on the graft cow and introduce them a few hours later when the milk has gone through. Rarely fails.

Have used Rompum on a few.

Have grafted several after the cow has been without a calf long enough to start going dry and the hide is not an option. Halter tied to the fence and hobbles for a week has made them all into mothers again. Oxytocin to bring them back into milk.
 
Faster horses said:
We ALWAYS skin the dead calf when grafting and it works every time.
Usually it's a matter only of hours and we can turn them out. Mr. FH
makes sure that the tail is attached cuz that's where the cow wants to
smell first. We had one cow years ago that didn't want her own calf,
We put up with that for three years (I guess it took that long for us
to believe her) and we sent her down the road. With her, he tied her
back leg to the corral as there was a little creek that ran through the corral
and we didn't have to water her. As she got nicer about her calf, he
would give her more rope til she could finally be turned loose. In the
corral for a few days of course. Imagine doing that for three years. :???:
Thinking back, we were pretty dumb. :D
Click to expand...

I will do that and ACE the cow. Even an older cow will usually take the calf without a kick. By the time she sobers up, she is in love with her new baby. Will also have the calf off feed 24 hours so it is hungary enough to fight if need be.
 

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