We had one of heifer's calve about 10:45 last night, and she is kicking at the calf when she would try to nurse, after about 3 hours we finally made up a bottle of dried colostrum and she drank the bottle fine. When my DH went back out at 4:30 this morning to feed her more or try to get her to nurse she only drank about 1 cup from the bottle, still can't nurse. Then again at 7 he tried again and she won't eat. He was able to milk the mom a little and hand fed the calf a little bit. We did give her more bottle of colostrum about 30 min. ago and she ate maybe another cup or so. What do we do?? Please help!! I am so worried that she is not eating enough.
Calf Born last night ~ NOT eating.... **More pic's #37**
- Thread starter steffpeck
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #3
WildRoseBeef
Range nerd & bovine enthusiast
Have you tried milking mom and putting a little on her nose and in her mouth and squirting milk into her mouth? I dunno how else to put it but that might be something to try...
Thewife
Likes frogs
Is the calf with the mom?
How is the calf acting besides not drinking?
How is the calf acting besides not drinking?
- Thread starter
- #6
Yes, the mom and baby are penned together in a stall. The baby seems ok. She is laying down a lot, but is that normal?
We talked to our Vet and they told us that is she won't nurse or drink from a bottle we are going to have to tube feed her. DH has the baby at the vet's right now to have them show him how to tube her. I guess that is the way we are going to have to go for now. Hopefully, when she gets a little more strength and energy, we can convince her to latch on and nurse. If not, then we will have a bottle baby. We have decided to name her Nutmeg and call her Meg. She is so cute!! I will post pic's when DH get's back with her.
We talked to our Vet and they told us that is she won't nurse or drink from a bottle we are going to have to tube feed her. DH has the baby at the vet's right now to have them show him how to tube her. I guess that is the way we are going to have to go for now. Hopefully, when she gets a little more strength and energy, we can convince her to latch on and nurse. If not, then we will have a bottle baby. We have decided to name her Nutmeg and call her Meg. She is so cute!! I will post pic's when DH get's back with her.
- Thread starter
- #7
Farmer Kitty
True BYH Addict
Was she due to come now or is she early? I'm asking because if she is early she maybe to weak to latchon to a reg. calf bottle or cow teat. If you have one around, try an infant bottle or a lamb nipple on a bottle.
If she is taking a cupful from the bottle at a time keep feeding her frequently. I'm assuming you are positive that she isn't nursing and not a case of her nursing when your not watching. I would also try putting some of a probiotic in the milk to get her stomach working good and a little electrolytes will help too.
If she is taking a cupful from the bottle at a time keep feeding her frequently. I'm assuming you are positive that she isn't nursing and not a case of her nursing when your not watching. I would also try putting some of a probiotic in the milk to get her stomach working good and a little electrolytes will help too.
Farmer Kitty
True BYH Addict
From over at BYChickens:
We like pics too. She sure sounds cute. Hopefully, you will get your heifers.steffpeck said:We have 1 baby, a little red heifer that was born at 10:41 last night. This is Spruce's 1st calf, and she is having a bit of a hard time. She won't let her latch on and nurse. We finally made up a bottle of Colostrum last night about 1:00 A.M. and she drank it, but hasn't drank much since then. We tied Spruce up and put the baby up there to nurse and she show no interest in it at all. She won't latch on and drink. We talked to the vet and they said we would have to tube feed her, so DH has the baby at the vet's right now to have them show him how to tube her. When he gets back I will go take pic's of her. She is so cute!!! She only weighs about 40 lbs. she is so tiny. We have named her Nutmeg, and are going to call her Meg. The other mom in labor (this is her 4th calf) and the mom to Spruce, hasn't had her's yet. I think it will be today or tomorrow. We have 5 Dexter cows total that are pregnant so within the next week or so we will have 3 more and then in May we will have our last one. We are keeping our fingers crossed for ALL HEIFERS!! LOL. We have a waiting list of 13 for 5 heifer calves, so we need them all to be girls.We are going to keep Meg, though, because she is what we have been working towards, a red, polled heifer. WOOHOO!!
Thewife
Likes frogs
If it was my heifer..
I would take the calf away from mom, but keep them close enough they can see and smell each other for awhile. If she did not nurse when put back together, I'd milk mom and keep up on small feedings.
Keeping mom milked will help keep her from getting tight and sore, ready to feed her calf when it's ready to eat.
I would take the calf away from mom, but keep them close enough they can see and smell each other for awhile. If she did not nurse when put back together, I'd milk mom and keep up on small feedings.
Keeping mom milked will help keep her from getting tight and sore, ready to feed her calf when it's ready to eat.
