Posted by tjdub on June 04, 2012 at 22:16:24 from (208.74.246.137):
Just wrapping up calving season and I'm having 2 issues.
1) I ended up with a beef bucket calf. It's pretty rare since I can usually get a problem cow into the chute and get her calf started. This cow would have NONE of it, and preferred to abandon her calf instead (which very likely earned her a one-way ticket on the bologna express). Anyway, the main problem seems to be with the calf and not the cow. He's mentally disabled (I know, it's very hard to diagnose in cattle, but he seems to not know how to eat). I had to tube feed for a while, then I finally taught him how to eat a bottle. After what seemed like forever, I finally taught him to drink out of a bucket (though he still forgets every few days). He won't touch calf starter unless I shove it in his mouth or let it dissolve in milk first. He seems healthy and fit except for being mentally disabled. He's 7 weeks old now. Do I just starve him to see if I can get him to start eating calf starter? Any other tricks?
2) Set of twins and the cow only loves one of them. I had them all in confinement for a week and forced her to nurse them both. Eventually after a week she seemed to accept them both so I put them out. 3 days later and she was back in confinement for starving the calf she doesn't like. It seems she will only allow the orphan calf to nurse if I'm standing next to her. Otherwise she kicks the carp out of it. At this point, I'm not sure if she will accept the calf for real or not, but it seems to be getting enough to eat now (if I'm supervising). I've put orphans on other cows before and the cow has always accepted them after a few days of nursing. Think this a lost cause?
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