won't take bottle

[mary,tx]

This pretty little girl came home with me from auction yesterday.


As I watched the handlers try to load her, I knew I was in trouble.

She got in at least three good kicks at my husband before we got her off the trailer. That scrape down her side is from her throwing herself against the walls of the trailer while it was parked in the shade for a few minutes before unloading. She had a new scrape this morning in front of one ear, presumably from throwing herself against the fence in her stall.

DH leaned on her while I haltered her before we unloaded. Otherwise she'd've never gotten haltered.

Now to get a bottle in her. I've sat and held the bottle out to her, and stood and held it through the fence to her. She takes a step or two forward and a step or two back. She licks her lips and wants it, but when she gets about a foot from it, she charges then runs off and we start over.

I've also tied her and forced the bottle in her mouth, and she refuses to swallow, letting milk drip down.

I've also rubbed her while she is tied, in an effort to tame her to the idea that I am not going to hurt her.

I've left the bottle positioned in the hay rack so that she could nurse it herself, and left, but she doesn't.

This morning I finally just dumped it in a pan hoping she'll slurp it up.

Later today we'll pick up creep feed and try that, and I'll try with the bottle again midday.

Anyone have ideas of what else I should try?

Also, does anyone have opinions of breed or age? She weighs 140#, and came through with the beef calves, so hopefully she is a beef animal.

[Allen W]

Give it some time, it may be tomorrow before she is hungry enough to eat from the bottle. She is at the size she may not take the bottle just get her eating some creep pellets and good grass or hay and she will be alright.

I need to get to looking for some. I like them big enough I don't have to mess with bottles.

[FarmerDavid]

Looks like a beefmaster to me. I'm guessing since your in tx there are beefmaster cattle in your area. Just being around her more should help calm her down. Just stay calm yourself

[TRAILRIDER]

She is beautiful!

[TRAILRIDER]

Can I be nosey and ask how much you had to pay for her?

[mary,tx]

Sure. I bid 1.65/lb, and she came in at 140 pounds. Came to about $239.
If she thrives, I will have gotten a good deal on her, I think.

On the one hand I feel like I am making some very slow progress on settling her down. At least I haven't gotten kicked! On the other hand, I haven't gotten her to suck at all. When I was out there at midday, the feeder I'd poured milk into had been kicked over. So I don't know whether she drank any or not. This time when I gave up, I poured it in a hanging feeder.

I have to make a run to town this afternoon for creep feed.

She has hay in front of her but I haven't seen her eating it. Of course when I am out there she is just watching me. I don't want to turn her out on the grass before I gentle her some, because she won't come back to me if I do.

[G. Seddon]

How old is she? Do you know how she has been fed up to now?

I think you will have to keep trying with the bottle, calmly and firmly, and she's big enough to need both of you to do this. I doubt creep feed and hay will keep her going at this stage. If she's never been bottle fed before, I don't believe that she's going to suck from a hanging feeder or out of a bucket without being taught.

I would treat those scrapes also with something so the flies don't get to them.

I agree with keeping her confined because she's frightened and in a completely new place. Probably never had a halter on before either. Of course she's kicking.

Maybe some of the bottle feeding experts on here will give their take on it. But please keep trying because she has got to be hungry! And post back on what happens?

[myheaven]

I would put blue kote on the scrapes. And cover her eyes to feed the bottle. She will have to sole go by feel and smell. If it smells like real milk and will feel like mom she is more apt to drink if she can't see it's not mom. If you creep feed her make sure it's a high protein and fat. Like a 20/20. She needs a lot of fat to grow at this moment. At 140 I'd say she's 3 mts old. If she delivered at 65 birth weight.

[mary,tx]

Thanks for the guess on the age. I really have no clue, and since I bought her at auction I have no history on her.

I did treat the scrape in this photo with Furozone (sp?) and it looks way better today. I have to wait for DH to help me with the newer scrape this evening.

I haven't given up on bottling. It's just that after trying for an hour or more at a time, and having company, I have to get back in the house and try again later.

I will be trying again tonight.

[francismilker]

If she hasn't been a bottle calf up to this point you may have a hard time getting her to take a bottle unless she gets really good and thirsty. Otherwise, you might try removing the water from her stall and putting in a bucket of milk for a few minutes. Or, you might even try dumping a little MR in her water to give it the color and faint taste of milk. Gradually up the dosage of milk daily until she's drinking MR from a pail.

[topside1]

Forget the milk, she was raised on mama. According to the photo she's appears to be of weaning age. Concentrate on grains and roughage, at this stage of the game taking the bottle will never work and only lead to frustration. Yes she got some beef blood in her, look at the hocks and knees, she's a beauty....Topside

[mary,tx]

Some good news this morning. After much patience, I finally got her to suck a bottle.

Good thing because she did not eat the creep feed or the hay in front of her. If I couldn't get her to suck today, my next step was going to be to turn her out with the goats and just hope she'd eat some grass and maybe start following them back up.

But after working with her last night, DH helped me put her in a smaller stall, where I was able to lean up against her in a corner and hold the bottle in her mouth. Eventually, because I was using a loose caprine nipple, her mouth would fill with milk and she'd have to swallow. After a while of this process, she eventually, magically started sucking.

I got most of a quart down her and will take out another quart bottle in a few hours and go through the process again.

Hopefully in a few days she'll start coming to it. And I'll up what I give her, and probably switch back to the calf nipple, in a few.

[G. Seddon]

Yay, well done! Despite her weight and long legs, I just don't think that calf is very old; her face is very much that of a baby (to me at least).

So glad she accepted the bottle for you!

[Allen W]

Takes a little time but usually they come around. I've used Calf Manna pellets and grain with good success and also some of the ADM/Moormans products, they have a very palatable calf starter feed, for getting small calves onto feed.

[mary,tx]

Yea, I was thinking this morning that I shouldn't have told the one feed store where I know I can buy calf feed that I'd never buy feed from them again.

Yesterday, for the second time with them, I had a bag of feed bust wide open on me. I would have understood if I had somehow made a tear in the bag and it had ripped, but I dropped it a little from standing (I am only 5' tall, so it wasn't much of a drop) and that bag ripped all the way around the middle, spilling creep feed all over my laundry floor. Wendlands is not making feed sacks like they used to. And it seems to me, but I'm not sure, that last time this happened it was a Purina bag. This store sells both.

[topside1]

Mary it's my best guess, your new heifer is 6-8 weeks old. More towards 8 weeks. Have fun, great news....Topside

[mary,tx]

Another breakthrough this morning. I still had to put the bottle in her mouth, but when I did, she immediately started sucking.

Also, I finally saw her poop.

[G. Seddon]

Excellent! Are you using cow's milk, whole milk from the store, or milk replacer?

[mary,tx]

None of the above. She's on goat milk.

[G. Seddon]

Aha! I guess that works!