Calf Question

[Rogo]

I live in a free roaming state. Some cattle owners don't even live here.

A neighbor found a calf on the road; thinks it fell out of a truck. Perhaps mama cow dropped it out there and for some reason ignored it. Who knows! It has a few scrapes, nothing appears serious. Neighbor knows little about cattle and I only know a hair more.

With other critters, the umbilical cord is off soon after birth. My question is when does the umbilical cord fall off? This calf still has it attached. Neighbor says the calf looks about 2 weeks old. I don't think so.

Thanks.

[ksfarmer]

My guess is the calf had crawled through the fence from a pasture bordering the road. Momma is probably frantically looking and calling for her baby. If left alone he would have heard her calling and returned to her. A two week old calf should have a dried cord if it hasn't already fallen off.

[Rogo]

You're probably right, KS. Perhaps the neighbor just saw a free calf. I dunno, with the cost of raising up the calf for 18 months, it would cost less to just get some meat from one of the farmers. Thanks for responding. The cord is still on the calf.

[tinknal]

Originally Posted by ksfarmer

My guess is the calf had crawled through the fence from a pasture bordering the road. Momma is probably frantically looking and calling for her baby. If left alone he would have heard her calling and returned to her. A two week old calf should have a dried cord if it hasn't already fallen off.

Could also be that the herd was rounded up and moved while the cow had the calf stashed. It happens.

[oregon woodsmok]

It seems to me that the calf has an owner. Did the friend contact anyone to report that he'd found the calf? If not, he's a cattle rustler.

[ksfarmer]

Originally Posted by tinknal

Could also be that the herd was rounded up and moved while the cow had the calf stashed. It happens.

Yes, that can happen. If so, someone probably came back looking for the calf as soon as they realized one momma cow was looking for a missing baby.