the new calf (and problems with him)

[mary,tx]

I bought this little steer at auction today, and was pretty pleased with myself until I got him home and tried to get him to take a bottle.

He is not remotely interested, and I have not been able to get him to suck at all, even at my fingers. I held the bottle in him mouth for quite awhile, several times, and got him, at the last to chew at it only a little, and to swallow a little now and again. Most of the bottle went down his chin.

DH saw that he drank water from a bucket, and didn't think he should fill up on that, so I moved out the water bucket and gave him milk in a bucket. No, he wasn't interested. Not interested in feed, either.

He likes to eat hay, and, as far as I can tell, that is all. But he's way too small for me to think he will thrive on hay and water.

One issue we noticed right away when we got him home is that his nose is peeling and very raw. And he seems a little congested. We think that might be part of his problem with nursing.

We have given him a dose of Biomycin.

Of course I will work with him again in the morning, but does anyone have suggestions?

His poops are fine, no diarrhea, and I have seen him pee good.

thanks, mary

[springvalley]

I think maybe he could be weaned allready, or taken away from his mom. Just try and get some sweet feed in front of him , he may start nibbling at it. keep an eye on him and make sure he keeps drinking and eating. Good Luck, Thanks > Marc

[springvalley]

Oh, and get rid of the halter that doesn`t fit. > Thanks Marc

[mary,tx]

Haha, yea, the halter's already gone. It did, though, help me get ahold of him a few times.

I did put a little sweet feed in front of him, and forced a little in his mouth. No, he's not interested, though I left a little down. Surely he wasn't just weaned to hay. (?) I don't get it. I don't think he's nearly big enough to have been weaned.

We'll try again in the morning.

[myersfarm]

nose pelling shows me he has a fever
check temp.. should be 101.3 with in a degree
.. if he is really hot the milk will be souring in his stomach

I would deffenly put back the water

[Valmai]

I've had the odd calf over the years that decided to wean themselves too early. Here are some of the things I remember trying (but can't remember which worked and which didn't) Is the milk warm or cold, offer him warm milk. Wipe some molassas on his nose for him to lick, and once he starts loving that, water it down mix in a little milk and try feeding him that. Perhaps he will take apples, or carrots. Any thing that can help reintroduce him to milk will help. Check his mouth and teeth, he may be in pain when he tries to drink. Perhaps he needs to be tubed to get the energy to start feeding again. Keep offering clean water. Can you get some high protein calf meal?

[Ronney]

Mary, I'm sorry but that is a shocking looking calf. I can see all his ribs, his hips are sticking out and he's skin and bone. He's not had milk for quite some time and your unlikely to get him to drink it now.

Nose peeling can mean something or nothing and I wouldn't worry about it too much because while his body condition is not good, he appears to be bright and alert. Put him out on pasture asap, put the water back and give him high quality sweet feed/calf meal along with his hay. He may take a few days to get the hang of sweet feed but he will get it. BTW, if all he's eating is hay, he needs the water.

He's going to take a while to come right but I see no reason as to why he shouldn't. It's just a pity his previous idiot owner didn't do better by him.

Cheers,
Ronnie

[topside1]

Mary, I think he's older then you think. My guess is 10 weeks old. By the amount of hay he's eating and his size...Here's what I'd do. I'd pen him up tight, offer sweet feed 24/7 from a hanging feeder so he doesn't knock it over. If he acts wild then he's been in the pasture with his mama. The reason for the red nose is probably that it's sunburned. Most pink nosed do the same thing if shade is not available. Penning him up tight will also calm him down and give you a chance to monitor his progress. Guess you could keep trying to feed MR but he looks weaned. The cow may have dried up early and the owner sent him to auction....If you had is micro paddock (1/4 acre) with grass, well that is where I'd let him live. With shelter of course...Topside

[mary,tx]

Thanks, Topside. I have him in just that sort of place. I sold the bucklings first yesterday, so he is in the little buck coop behind the barn. It has a small field and access to the hay rack inside the barn. Right now I have him just inside the barn with the gate closed to the field because I thought if I let him out I might not be able to catch him. I want to be able to handle him for a few days and try to tame him to me.

I believe you are right that he has been a pasture calf. He came through with a very large group of very young stocker calves, most weighing between 200 and 300 pounds. He only weighed in at about 115, so I figured he was younger and would eventually warm up to a bottle. Maybe and maybe not. I got a little down him this morning, but not much, and he didn't exactly suck, just drank a little that trickled into his mouth. He did chew it a little.

I didn't know that about the pink noses. I put bag balm on it this morning, and he didn't seem to mind it.

[topside1]

Sounds like you have things under control. Getting high protein grains into his system would be my first priority. If he eats hay he will surely eat grain. Also it looks like he has lots of fly bites on him another sign he's been born and raised in the pasture. Keep him out of the sun and grain free choice for a few days, get to know each other and then release him into the paddock....enough said...bye.

[Allen W]

topside1 is on the right track. I would get some calf manna or sur-blum, a kent feed/evergreen product, and start him on that following the label directions. Put some hay in a pan and a little feed on top of the hay to get him started eating the feed. He may or may not ever take a bottle keep trying for a few days and see what happens.

Forgot to say nice looking calf. He is a little pot gutted so I would say he has been taking care of himself with out a lot of milk from the cow. He hasn't been hurt by it though.

[mary,tx]

Thanks. I've switched him to a caprine nipple and have got him taking maybe a pint to a pint and a half, three times so far today. But it is with a lot of effort. It takes me about an hour of coaxing and holding the bottle, rubbing his neck, etc., to get that much down him. Right now I am just popping a nibble of sweet horse feed in his mouth afterwards, because that's what I have. But if, hopefully, he is still alive when I go to town in a day or two I will pick up some calf feed.

I figure the next few days are going to be touch and go.

At least he's getting used to me.

[topside1]

Sounds like progress to me. Just imagine his journey to your farm...no herd, no mama, new nipple, new milk taste, new surroundings...he'll be fine with your care...Topside

[tammy8701]

check him for Pneumonia sometimes when they have a hay belly they will have Pneumonia l deal with over 60 calves a year thats what we raise bottle feeding calfs, what l do with new calfs is they get there milk in morning electric lights at lunch and milk at nite l do this for 2 weeks never lost a calf to scours or being sick good luck

[Tom in TN]

Mary,

Are you familiar with a disease called Infectious Bovine Rhinotectritis (or something like that). It's usually just called IBR. But it is commonly referred to as "Red Nose". One of the symptoms of IBR is an inflammed muzzle (nose).

I've never dealt with the disease but it's part of my vaccination regime. You might want to google IBR and see if sounds possible that your calf is infected.

Hopefully not.

Good luck,

Tom in TN

[Ronney]

Mary, why do you think he's going to die? While a scungy looking calf, he's managed thus far to keep himself alive and I see no good reason as to why he shouldn't continue to do so. Your photo shows a bright, alert calf.

I don't like to put an age on calves via a photo, but agree with others he is possibly between 8 and 10 weeks old. I also think he probably hasn't had milk for some time. Trying to force him to drink it now is a waste of your time and unlikely to do much good. If he has been pasture reared, it's been grass that has kept him alive so put him out on grass - that is what his gut is used to - and put him on the best that you have. Bring him in in the evening and lock him up with water and whatever you use as calf feed until he gets used to it. Don't try and make him eat calf feed as a stand alone diet, this has to be done gradually.

Also, have you wormed him? Normally calves are not drenched until they are weaned but under the circumstances I would bet that this little fellow is full of them.

Cheers,
Ronnie

[mary,tx]

Ronney, my fear of him dying is only based on sad experience being that I don't know that much about cattle. In the past I have gotten what I thought was a good deal because the ranchers didn't bid me up only to realize there was a reason they weren't bidding. They saw something I didn't, and I lost the calf because it was not thrifty.

Tom, thanks, I looked up IBR. The only symptom he really seems to have is the raw, somewhat snotty nose, which could be from a number of other things. So I'm not going to stress about that just yet.

Tammy, the antibiotic we have started him on is Biomycin. Do you think that is sufficient? I also have Pennicilin on hand.

Topside, thanks so much for the encouragement.

[tammy8701]

l dont know what Biomycin is here in canada we have different drugs but a course of Pennicilin may help we give ours nulfor depends on weight to give them and 1.5 of bammine and 1.5 b12 mix together for 3 days this helps with appetite, l wish l lived closer to you to help you

[Ronney]

Mary, farming is a learning curve and some of it can be pretty hard but unless I am very much mistaken, this calf is not going to keel over. He's a survivor and while it's going to take him some time to get to where he should be, he will get there with your help.

Also, Topside is right, stress is hard on calves and everything being equal, this fellow is probably doing very well - he hasn't develped scours (yet), is hoeing into his hay and making the best of a bad job. Personally, if he were mine, I would forget the milk and give him access to as much grass as he wanted, hay, calf feed and water and warm housing if he wants it.

I've reared some absolute goners as calves, things that other people have given up on and while I lost some, most survived. When I look back on it, it was the lack of interference that was probably the deciding factor. They were given a house with bedding, hay, water and I did whatever had to be done to keep them clean and fed but kept handling to a minimum rather than stress them out with too much TLC.

Good luck with him.

Cheers,
Ronnie

[linn]

Mary, why not try to get some liquid electrolytes down the calf? If he is suffering from dehydration, this should help. It won't hurt him.