yearlings sucking on cows

cedarcreekranch · #1 09/24/11, 12:29 AM

Have a question for you all. I've had cattle all my life but this is a new one for me. Maybe I just never noticed it before in my other cattle but I've got 4 bred heifers and EVERY ONE of them nurses on each other, or the other cows they are with. And the silly cows let them! They were weaned and separated when they were all about 6 months old, turned back in with herd at a year & a half and went right back to sucking so I finally put the 'no nurse' nose tabs on them. After several months of that and them being bred, I took them out. Well, less than a month later they're back at it. What the heck do I do or is this something not to worry about? Since a couple are fairly close to freshening, I am afraid the mother will not have any colostrum for the calf if the others keep nursing her! It's not really feasible to separate each one into her own pasture, which is the only idea I've come up with. I'm afraid with the nose tab in, the cow won't be able to mother her calf. What causes this and any suggestions as to how to stop it?

myersfarm · #2 09/24/11, 12:59 AM

I have had it happen when i had angus....only way to stop I found was to sell..at 1 1/2 they are to old to stop....they are starting because of stress..and any time they are stressed they will go back at it have heard of

A cow being sucked by her 2 year old calf and her new calf at same time...with the 2 year old's calf sucking the 2 year old

francismilker · #3 09/24/11, 01:26 AM

I agree with myers. The most effective way to stop it is to sell three of the four. You can end up with some udder issues and premature milk production out of it and you CANT stop it for good. They'll always revert back to it.

I've had calves that were hard to wean so I've moved them off the place to leased ground for over a year. I brought them back to see what myers was referring to. The new mother heifer would go share a teat with her day old sibling while her own calf nursed her. Old habits die hard.

BlackWillowFarm · #4 09/24/11, 08:18 AM

I'm dealing with it right now. I have the cow, her 2yr old daughter and the 2 year old's bottle fed heifer calf. I put the cow, 2 year old and calf together and both the 2yr old and the heifer ended up sucking on the cow. I don't think there's any hope to stop the 2 year old so I'm going to sell her next year after she calves.

It's pretty serious to have your heifers suckling each other. They can give each other mastitis or worse, you could end up with blind quarters. Either get weaning rings in their noses, separate them or cull.

cedarcreekranch · #5 09/26/11, 12:57 AM

If they have the weaning rings (I have the plastic ones with little points) in, will it affect their licking and cleaning their calves? If not, I'll catch 'em up and put them all back in! Darned heifers anyway. I don't want to sell them as I'm just getting my small herd to the size and bloodlines I want! Anyway, if you know if the plastic weaner rings will work on heifers with a calf, please let me know so I can try it. Thanks!

francismilker · #6 09/26/11, 03:30 AM

If you've got a two year old that's still sucking her mama you're more than likely going to see her revert back to sucking her mama as soon as you take the weaning ring out. It's just a habit that can't hardly be broken. As I mentioned above, I've had some separated for a long time (over a year) that it didn't take them a few sniffs nose to nose and butt to butt before the calf started nursing again while it had a calf in tow itself.

myersfarm · #7 09/26/11, 10:21 AM

I've got 4 bred heifers and EVERY ONE of them nurses on each other, or the other cows they are with

I'm just getting my small herd to the size and bloodlines I want!

you have 4 heifers sucking at 2 years old.....
1 . they are under stress not enough grass or hay.....mineral...salt...something is missing..
2 if all 4 have the same bloodlines...that is not the bloodlines I would want....
3 your asking for a solutions to a problem that we have with just one older calf sucking...but you have 4 doing it.....SOMETHING IS WRONG...STRESS from not having enough to eat ...stress from something.... BLOODLINES...something and you will be fighting it forever..

4 I am sorry i do not know if a cow with a nose ring can take care of her calf....I would think it would be hard to lick a calf dry in the winter with one in....also during the summer with flies it would take twice as long to me...is that safe for the calf to be wet that long....also I do not think a cow with that nose ring in could eat from a hay ring and get her fill as fast ..so the boss cow would be at hay ring 2 or 3 more hours cutting down on the shy cow from getting her hay fill....

5 how do you know with all this sucking that they have not ruined there udders already with mastistis

when I add it all up ....why have these cows with nose rings only reason I can think of because you are attached to them and you raised them up from calfs

I hope you work this out one way or the other ...will get off my soap box now...I wish you only the best of luck