missing calf's mother

[.netDude]

We had our first calf yesterday, and today it's missing. No carcass, blood, no sign. My question is, do I need to do something with the mother? What will happen to her if she doesn't get milked out? I don't have any other calves to milk her, and I don't have a corral / chute to milk her myself. The cows are pretty wild and I don't think she'd stand for milking, even if I could catch her. She's a herford.
Thanks.

[dosthouhavemilk]

How is the mother acting? Does she seemed concern at that "missing calf?" Are you sure it is gone or did she simply hide it?
I know our cows will the hide the calf the first evening and that calf will be kept hidden and brought out only for nursing for close to the first week.
Which is why if we don't locate the calf the first day we generally do not catch that calf to bring in until 7 days.

[agmantoo]

The calf is just out of your sight. If the cow is content there is nothing wrong and the calf will show up. Do not move the cow to another location.

[ozark_jewels]

I agree with above posters. Its a very common occurence in our small Jersey herd. If the cow isn't worried, we don't worry.

[JeffNY]

Herefords will hide their calves, take a look at the cows bag. If it isn't big, and solid, she is likely feeding the calf. Lets just say the calf was missing (and not all cows go nuts when their calf is dead, we had one last year, she never fussed a bit), you don't have to get any calf for the hereford cow, simply let her dry off. They are beef, they don't get sick, it is what we did many times. Their bag fills, stays filled for a week, then begins to go back down.


Jeff

[Sprout]

Mount up and go searching through your pasture. If you don't see her calf you can bet it got dragged off. Coyotes can drag a calf off without letting it bleed all over the place. I've seen a calf carcass dragged as far 1/4 of a mile before they tore into it, and I'll bet they've gone farther. If you can find a calf that just hit the ground I'd see if momma would take it. It is really better for her to go through lactation. The sudden change in hormones isn't good for them, but it's not the end of the world if you just let her dry up. It's certainly not worth breaking your neck trying to milk an ungentled cow.

[.netDude]

Thanks for all the responses. It was a false alarm, the baby bull showed up the next morning running around the pasture. Guess she was hiding it! It had been raining all day, so it probably curled up under a bush or tree.

[susieM]

Yay!

[savinggrace]

Glad to hear